From the Gold Coast to Tokyo: Part Three
Of the 53 Scots set to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games, 20 represented Team Scotland at Gold Coast 2018, including 10 medallists. For many, the Commonwealth Games has acted as a springboard in their journey to Olympic selection. In the last of our series we profile our Cycling, Hockey and Rugby 7s athletes who are following up their Gold Coast experience with a trip to Tokyo…
CYCLING
Gold Coast 2018: Bronze medallist in the Points Race at Glasgow 2014, Katie stepped up in style at her second Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, winning gold in the Individual Pursuit, silver in the Points Race and recording two 4th place finishes in the Scratch Race and Road Time Trial. Her Individual Pursuit gold came on a special night as her brother John took silver in the men’s event, making them the first brother and sister to win Commonwealth Games medals for Scotland on the same day.
Road to Tokyo: Olympic gold medal winner in the Women’s Team Pursuit in Rio five years ago, Katie comes into her second Games in Tokyo with a wealth of silverware to her name. Since Gold Coast she had added four gold and four silver medals at the European Championships to her impressive resume, as well as silver in the Team Pursuit at both the 2019 and 2020 World Championships.
Gold Coast 2018: Making his Commonwealth Games debut at Gold Coast 2018, Jack brought all his international experience from two European U23 titles and a silver medal at the European senior championships to bear as he put in a fantastic performance to take silver in the Sprint and 4th place in the Keirin.
Road to Tokyo: Jack had a fantastic 2018 with silver in both the Team and Individual Sprint at the World Championships alongside his Commonwealth Games silver. He has continued to be an integral part of the British Team Sprint trio, winning European Championships silver in 2019 and silver again at the 2020 World Championships. Tokyo will be his Olympic debut.
Gold Coast 2018: Making her Commonwealth Games debut at Gold Coast 2018, she was twice on the podium as she won silver in the Scratch Race and bronze in the Points Race, before also putting in a strong performance in the Road events with 8th place in both Time Trial and Road Race.
Road to Tokyo: Gold Coast 2018 represented Neah’s first major championship medals and since then she has come into her own, winning gold in the Team Pursuit at three successive European Championships (2018,2019 and 2020) as well as making it a double gold in 2020 by taking the Individual Pursuit title. 2020 also saw her win silver at the World Championships as part of the Team Pursuit and she will make her Olympic debut in Tokyo.
HOCKEY
Gold Coast 2018: An attacking midfielder, Sarah followed up her Commonwealth Games debut at Glasgow 2014 with a 7th place finish in Gold Coast.
Road to Tokyo: Having played the vast majority of games for GB during the 2019 FIH Hockey Pro League, Sarah then helped Scotland to gold on home soil at the 2019 EuroHockey Champs II, earning them promotion back to the top tier in the process. She has over 100 caps for Scotland and over 50 for GB and will make her Olympic debut in Tokyo.
RUGBY 7s
Gold Coast 2018: A core Scotland 7s player, Max was part of the Team Scotland side that placed 6th in Gold Coast, just missing out on the chance to play for a first team medal. With only the top-ranked team from each group advancing to the last four, Scotland’s last pool match against South Africa was decisive with the World Rugby Series leaders and Commonwealth champions progressing, despite Scotland’s wins over Papua New Guinea and Malaysia.
Road to Tokyo: Max was Scotland 7s top try scorer in the 2019 World Sevens Series and was on course to repeat that feat in 2020 before the tour was cancelled due to Covid. One of six Scots named to the initial Team GB training squad and one of four included in the final team, he will make his Olympic debut in Tokyo.
Gold Coast 2018: Diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2014, he made a full recovery and went on to earn a contract at Glasgow Warriors before moving to London to play for London Scottish. He made his Commonwealth Games debut at Gold Coast 2018 as the team finished in 6th place (see Max McFarland profile above).
Road to Tokyo: Fergusson is the Scotland 7s captain and was Scotland’s joint top points scorer in the truncated 2020 World Sevens Series. Tokyo will be his first Olympic Games. While sevens has been his priority, he returned to Warriors in 2019/20 and will continue with them upon his return from Tokyo.
Part One: Aquatics
Part Two: Athletics, Badminton, Shooting