Robbie Renwick appears to be the Benjamin Button of British swimming; after being on the international scene for a decade, the Aberdonian has had the best year of his career at the age of 27. At a stage in his career when many of his fellow swimmers have hung up their goggles, Renwick is continuing to improve and in August, he became world champion for the first time when he was part of the quartet that won gold in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay at the World Championships in Kazan, Russia. Just weeks later, he was named Scottish Sportsperson of the Year.

Renwick is aiming to cap off a fine 2015 with a strong performance at the European Short Course Championships which begin in Netanya, Israel on Wednesday. The Scot will compete in the 100m and 200m freestyle and he admits that he cannot wait to start racing. “I’m really looking forward to the Europeans because I’m feeling really good,” he says. “I’m really happy with the shape I’m in at the moment although I’m not completely sure what my results will be because there’s so many fast guys in the 200m freestyle. I really feel like I can be up there fighting for the medals though. It’s going to be a fast meet, that’s for sure and I just want to get in there and race because that’s what I love to do- I don’t want to be worrying too much about colours of medals.”

Renwick’s current mental state is in stark contrast to how he felt this time last year. Twelve months ago, the swimmer was utterly disenchanted with the sport; at Glasgow 2014, he failed to successfully defend the Commonwealth 200m freestyle title that he had won in Delhi four years previously and his performances had plateaued somewhat. The Scot was disheartened to such an extent that he admits he even considered retiring from the sport. “After Glasgow 2014, I really wasn’t happy with my performances and how the season had gone,” he says. “It was a really pivotal moment for me- I had to decide, did I want to continue swimming or did I want to move to the University of Stirling and try that? I moved to Stirling and I’m so glad that I did.”

Renwick’s move turned out to be one of the best decisions of his career. The squad, which also includes Commonwealth champion, Ross Murdoch, Olympian, Craig Benson and the rising star of British swimming, Duncan Scott, has established itself as the pre-eminent base for elite swimmers in this country. Under the guidance of coaches Ben Higson and Steven Tigg, Renwick has flourished and while their training regime is significantly different to what he was used to, Renwick is loving every moment of it. “It’s a totally different approach to swimming- there’s a lot more recovery which, in my old age, I need,” he says. “My improvements have been quite large over the last twelve months and I’m now a lot fitter, a lot leaner and a lot better placed that I was last year. I’m training a lot smarter now so my body feels much better than it ever has and I never feel old!”

The strength-in-depth of the Stirling squad is, Renwick believes, a major factor in its success and to have such intense competition daily is something that few swimmers have the luxury of. “It’s great that there are so many good swimmers in the group and the benefit of that is we’re all in the same boat. We all know that we need to do the hard, grinding training and so it helps that we all suffer together. It’s so professional but it’s really good fun too. It’s a great team atmosphere and we all do everything we can to get the results.”

With just eight months until the Rio Olympics, Renwick’s new lease of life couldn’t have come at a better time. His leg of the gold medal-winning relay swim in Kazan was a career best 1 minute 45.98 seconds and the win leaves the British team extremely well placed for next summer. Renwick admits that the thought of an Olympic medal has crossed his mind. “It was really nice to get that gold at the World Championships because it felt like after all the hard work I’ve put in, I’ve finally got something to show for it,” he says. “It’s also hugely motivating going into Rio knowing that we can, potentially, win a gold medal and that’s so exiting. It could be my third Olympics and I’m feeling in better shape than I ever have.”

It’s not all sunshine though- while the current doping scandals have primarily focused on athletics, swimming has also fallen victim to the rumour mill. Renwick concedes that it is unfortunate to have a cloud over his sport but he also admits that he was not overly shocked by some of the revelations. “When the story broke, it wasn’t really a surprise to me that some nations had been trying to take advantage of the system,” he says. “But it’s sad that swimming has been brought into it. With some countries, especially the ones which are in the news at the moment, if wasn’t unexpected but you just really hope that it’s a limited number of countries and that they get the appropriate punishment. I have faith in WADA that they’re catching these guys and hopefully that serves as a deterrent moving forward.”