Team Scotland gymnastics history was made for the second day in succession as Reuben Ward and Cameron Lynn clinched Pommel Horse medals, the first time two Scots have shared an individual podium.

Ward came into the first day of individual finals off the back of making history as the first Scot to win the All-Around competition, and with no expectations of a medal in the Floor final, he went for it, taking on a higher degree of difficulty than he did in the All-Around. A great routine looked like it would put him in the medal shake-up, until an unfortunate slip on landing of his finishing sequence, a double pike somersault, cost him a full mark as well as 0.3 in penalties. None-the-less, a great effort, and a score of 12.900 put him in 6th place.

Onto his favoured Pommel, with Lynn alongside him, the expectations were high, but the pressure was off after gold the previous day.

The competition was fierce in a high-quality final, Canada’s Jordan Carroll scoring an astonishing 15.000, delivering arguably one of the best routines in history. 

Ward was the next athlete to step up to compete, and after a quick discussion with coach Jake Seager, he opted to upgrade the difficulty of his routine and go for gold. That underlined the confidence he has in his ability.

Starting with some beautiful flare work, before controlled circles and beautiful Russians, Ward stepped up once again. The vocal Scottish crowd erupted, before a long nervous wait for the score to come in. 14.966 – so it wouldn’t be gold, but it was a performance he could be proud of and arguably his best ever.

Cameron Lynn followed a couple of gymnasts later. The Stirling man has been embracing the crowd all week, and perhaps inspired by Ward’s efforts, he delivered the best Pommel routine of his life. What made it even more special was the atmosphere building throughout, and when he stuck his landing, both the crowd and Cammy himself let out a mighty roar.

The score came in – 13.833 – and with two gymnasts to go he was in the bronze medal position, however Olympic champion Rhys McClenaghan was up next. He couldn’t better Lynn’s score though, so it was all eyes on Australia’s Ritam Malik. All the pressure was on the Aussie, and despite a strong routine, he couldn’t overhaul his Scottish competitor.

Silver and bronze to Scotland, and chants of ‘No Scotland, No Party’ – the Glasgow International Arena had reached fever pitch!

In a packed Mixed Zone….

Reuben said: “To be in that pressured environment with the crowd so loud and hitting the best routine I think I’ve ever done, it’s just incredible.

“Scotland is a force to be reckoned with [in gymnastics] and our goal is to prove that and we are starting to do that. It’s amazing to have Cam up on the podium too, I’m so proud of him. It is disappointing that it’s the best I’ve ever done it [my pommel routine] and it still isn’t quite enough to be the gold. But if someone told me this morning that I’d scored 14.966, I’d be over the moon. I’m incredibly proud of myself for hitting that routine.”

Cameron said: “I’ll be honest, I was kind of in a flow state. I’ve done routines like that in training before, maybe not the second half. After I got that first lot done, I was like ‘okay flow state, I’m ready to go’ and I just kept swinging and I landed it. I don’t even know how to describe it, I just kind of did it. I don’t even know what’s going on to be honest. I know I’ve won a bronze medal now, but it is a bit surreal. It’s a shame we can’t hear the national anthem on the podium, but we’ll be playing it in our heads.”

Both are back for more individual apparatus finals on Tuesday, Ward in the Parallel Bars and Lynn in the High Bar.