highlights - 2014 LEN european championships

"The Europeans was right after the Commonwealth Games. When the selections came through we had to make the choice to either stay on for the rest of the Games, or go home and continue training towards Berlin."

Three weeks after the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow Stephen was back in competition, this time as a member of the GB team that took Berlin by storm at the 2014 LEN European Championships.

Having made the decision to compete in Berlin, he was determined to prove he could better his results from the Commonwealth Games. The 400m freestyle personal best from Glasgow proved elusive and he finished 6th in the final. Team mate Jay Lelliot collected bronze in the event and his friend's success gave Stephen added impetus to move things on.

His 1500m freestyle heat swim ranked alongside his recently set personal best, but the final gave him another chance to crack the 15 minute barrier. He did it in some style, finishing just outside the medals with a new Scottish record of 14:53.83. His follow up swim in the 800m freestyle on Day 5 saw him slice almost 6 seconds off the time he had set in the heats of that event, as he claimed his second Scottish record of the meet.

The final day of competition brought a chance to prove himself over the shorter distances, and he produced a 49.67 split in the anchor freestyle leg of the men's 4x100m medley relay heats. Cheering on the team in the final that evening, his commitment was rewarded as he watched them came home ahead of Russia and Hungary to take gold, and he collected his second major international medal to round off the 2014 season

"I think we were all fired up after the results in Glasgow. Everyone felt inspired and wanted to show what GB could do. It was a brilliant end to a summer to remember"

The British team topped the medal table in Berlin, with a total of 11 gold, 8 silver and 8 bronze medals. With 2 years ahead until the Rio Olympics, and the prospect of the World Championships in Kazan to come in 2015, those at the helm of British Swimming had proved that new thinking could yield results and that Britain's senior swimmers were decisively back on the right track.