With less than ten weeks until the Opening Ceremony of Glasgow 2026, Team Scotland's swimming team has been finalised and the 25-strong squad includes a combination of Scotland’s most experienced athletes plus a number of fresh faces who will make their major championship debut this summer.
Spearheading the swimming squad is Scotland’s most-decorated athlete ever, Duncan Scott, who was selected for Team Scotland late last year, with the remainder of the swimming team now confirmed. Alongside Scott, fellow Olympians Katie Shanahan, Lucy Hope and Keanna MacInnes will head to Glasgow 2026, although a notable omission from the squad is Olympic relay gold medallist, Kathleen Dawson. And alongside this cohort of experienced athletes are several newcomers to the international stage who will be looking to make a name for themselves on home soil.
18-year-old Dean Fearn will make his Commonwealth Games debut this summer but despite his lack of international experience at this level, the teenager has already been tagged as Scotland’s “next big thing” in the pool.
Such a billing is entirely justified, given what Fearn has already accomplished.
In 2025 alone, the Aberdeenshire native picked-up two British senior titles, three European Junior gold medals and, most eye-catchingly, four medals at the World Junior Championships, including becoming champion in the 50m butterfly.
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Such a successful year meant that as he left the junior ranks and headed into the daunting world of senior swimming, Fearn was laden with both internal and external pressure but he’s hopeful he will be unaffected by this as he finds his feet at the highest level.
“Last year, my success was very unexpected and it was a lot to process because it seemed to come all at once,” the teenager says.
“So, coming off the back of last year, there's a good bit of pressure on me because my expectations as a swimmer have gone up.
“Racing at the trials (in April), I wanted more from myself and I didn't quite meet what I wanted, but it was enough (to make Team Scotland). There's a lot of learning around how trials are just the pathway into the summer and then you want to progress from there.”
Fearn’s inclusion in Team Scotland for Glasgow 2026 may mark his international debut but his inexperience on this stage does not mean he’s tempered his targets as he looks ahead to this summer.
Exactly which events he will swim at the Commonwealth Games has yet to be confirmed but with the teenager’s junior success having come in butterfly and medley sprint events, he will have several attempts at Glasgow 2026 in which to reach finals and, perhaps, even contend for podium places.
Fearn has already had a taste of success as part of Team Scotland having won gold in the 50m butterfly at the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2023 and that glimpse into being part of Team Scotland has, he admits, made him desperate to experience the event on a bigger scale this summer.
“The Commonwealth Youth Games was my first insight to the Commonwealth environment and all the different countries and cultures coming together. That was really special so when I found out that I was selected for Glasgow 2026, it was really great,” he says.
“I want to take as much from this (meet) as possible because that will help me prepare for the next step and if that comes with a medal and some personal bests, that would be brilliant.”
While Fearn may, as yet, have limited experience competing at senior level, he’s no stranger to swimming alongside some of the world’s very best.
Having relocated from his childhood swimming club, Aberdeen Dolphins, to the lauded University of Stirling swimming programme last autumn, Fearn now trains daily alongside Olympic champions in the shape of Duncan Scott and Englishman Tom Dean, as well as a raft of other Olympic and World medallists and finalists.
Being in such a highly-competitive environment did, admits Fearn, take a little bit of getting used to but having spent the past eight months settling-in to the world-class set up at Stirling, the teenager now feels considerably more comfortable in his environment and is learning from the very best, with his proximity to his compatriot, Scott, whose achievements the teenager aims to ultimately emulate, particularly fruitful.
“It took a bit of time to settle-in because I wasn't used to that environment but I'm a lot more settled and grounded now compared to where I started off,” he says.
“I’ve just had my head down since the start of the year and got my work done behind closed doors, doing what needs to be done.
“Where I was training before, I didn't have anyone to push me in my event whereas at Stirling, there's several people over several strokes and they're all held to a really high standard, so there's no room for mucking around and going off-track.
“Training alongside Duncan, seeing his attitude and discipline is probably the big takeaway for me. Seeing the standard that he holds himself to is what I feel like I need to do in order to achieve great things. We race similar events and he’s definitely set standards and goals that I’m looking to achieve in the future.”
