Ross Murdoch had to fight hard to secure the Bronze medal in the 100m Breaststroke final at Tollcross International Swimming Centre.
With three of the four fastest swimmers in the world over the distance contesting the final it was always going to be a highly competitive race and it didn’t disappoint, with Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa setting the early pace. Hot on his heels were Murdoch, England’s Adam Peaty and New Zealand’s Glenn Snyders and at the 50m mark there was very little separating the field.
Peaty’s finish is strong, both he and Murdoch closing the gap quickly on van der Burgh and the race was on. Peaty timed his final push to perfection securing Gold in 58.94, a new Games record, while van der Burgh just managed to hold off the challenge of Murdoch to win Silver. Murdoch finished with the Bronze medal in 59.47, while team-mate Craig Benson swam well for 4th in 1:00.44.

Following the race, Murdoch said:
“I’m really pleased with that, it was a personal best for me, and coming off the back of the 200m it was a fantastic race for myself. I would like to say congratulations to Adam Peaty. He is the first British man ever to go sub 59, which is an amazing feat.
“I felt more relaxed with the Scottish people behind me. The support has been fantastic this week with everyone behind me. I’ve had loads of test messages and it’s turning out to be a fantastic experience, one I’ll never forget.”
When asked if winning the Bronze medal gave him as much pride as winning the Gold medal in the 200m Breaststroke final, Murdoch continued,
“I’m absolutely delighted. This is another medal I get to say I won for Scotland at a Home Games. I am over the moon with it.
“It was also a great honour to have my medal presented by David Wilkie. He spoke to me just before the ceremony and told me to keep going, keep pushing hard and maybe in a couple of years we’ll see something else.”
There was much expectation about the 200m butterfly final following Cameron Brodie’s superb swim in this morning’s heats. Drawn next to South Africa’s Chad Le Clos, Brodie tried hard to keep on the shoulder of the reigning Olympic Champion, who until the final 150m was lying in 2nd place, behind Australian Grant Irvine.
Le Clos, well known for a strong finish, powered his way down the last 50m taking Gold in a new Games record time of 1:55.07. Irvine won Silver and Sebastien Rousseau his second Bronze of the Games. Brodie himself finished in 4th place in 1:56.59 and, despite that being a personal best, was disappointed. He said,
“I said after this morning’s heats that I would go on and win tonight, I felt like superman. Right now I’m feeling a hell of a lot worse. I was only about 0.1 away from a medal and standing on that podium. I should be happy with that, but 4th place sucks!”
“Chad’s last 50m is his strength, my last 50m is my weakness so just to be close to him at 150m felt good but from there on in he just started to get away from me, as did the others.”
“I will go through to swim down and put a smile on my face and say that I’m pleased but in bed tonight there may be tears, I don’t know.”
Hannah Miley looked shocked at her 4th place finish in the 200m Breaststroke final. Ranked 10th before the event, Miley used her strength in the latter stages of the race to move through the field and challenge for a medal. She finished in 2:25.40, a new personal best and only 0.4 off the bronze medal.
Miley was back in action at the end of the night, racing along with Caitlin McClatchey, Megan Gilchrist and Rachel-Louise Masson in the 4x200m Freestyle final, where they finished 5th. Earlier in the day Lucy Hope and Rachael O’Donnell had helped secure the place in the final.
Craig Rodgie looked much happier after his Para-Sport 200m Freestyle S14 final and a 5th place finish. His time of 2:03.20 was just outside his personal best.
In other events Sian Harkin finished 7th in the final of the 50m Freestyle with a time of 25.31 after which she had to go and prepare for her semi-final of the 50m Butterfly in which she finished 15th overall posting a time of 27.52.
Jack Ness, Andrew McGovern and Rory Lamont finished 10th, 11th and 13th overall respectively after the semi-finals of the 50m Backstroke
Day four sees Team Scotland’s youngest ever competitor take to the blocks with Erraid Davies going in the Para-Swimming 100m Breaststroke SB9. Ross Murdoch will be back in action in the 50m Breaststroke where he will be joined by Mark Tully and Joe Welstead. Hannah Miley is also back in action in the 200m Individual Medley, while Camilla Hattersley and Aisha Thornton make their Team Scotland debuts in the 800m Freestyle. Corrie Scott, Kathryn Johnstone and Katie Armitage will all contest the 100m Breaststroke.

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