Gold and Silver for McLay as Scotland Win Four Medals in the Pool
Perth’s Scott McLay claimed Team Scotland’s second gold medal of the Bahamas 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games as he stormed to a win the Men’s 50m Butterfly on the opening night of the swimming competition. Under an hour later he was back on his marks, this time taking silver in the 100m Backstroke, to become Scotland’s first double medallist of the Games.
An extraordinary night in the pool was kicked off by Emma Harvey taking bronze, the team’s first swimming medal of the Games, in the opening event, the Women’s 50m Butterfly. She was followed closely home by her team mate Anna Fleming in 4th. It marked the start of a medal rush as, alongside Scott’s gold and silver, Sophie Smith added 200m Freestyle silver to the tally.
“It feels great I couldn’t be happier with it,” said Scott. “It’s about going through the processes in the pool and replicating what I’ve been doing in training so I’m glad it’s paying off and I’ve come away with those two medals.
“I didn’t actually see the time board after the finish of the 50m Fly, I just heard it announced by the commentator and I was thinking, ‘Really? Is it me that’s won it?’ It was fantastic to have the support of my team mates and all the people up in the stands, it really does spur you on.
“This has set me up really well for the rest of the competition, I just want to keep performing at my best and hopefully pick up a few more medals.”
Delighted to have claimed Team Scotland’s first swimming medal of the 2017 Youth Games, Emma Harvey said: It was such a great feeling touching the wall and hearing my name announced as third place, I was just ecstatic. All the support in the stands was just great, it definitely made a big difference. A crowd can really help you to swim faster, I think, so that was just fantastic.
“It’s such an experience to be part of Team Scotland, you could never replace this with anything else so I’m just excited to be here and having such a great time.”
Emma was back in action in the 100m Backstroke final, taking 6th place, with team mate Isabel Jones in 5th.
By taking silver in the 200m Freestyle, Arbroath swimmer Sophie Smith exceeded all her expectations. “It was absolutely amazing,” she said. I just couldn’t believe it. I came here aiming to get into a final, maybe a few, and just see what happened. I just couldn’t believe it, I was speechless.
“To see the Scottish flag up as well, it was incredible. It was a good start to the week because it’s given me a lot of confidence to go forward into the week. I was quite nervous coming here because it’s my first international event and I’ve never competed in an open air pool before, so it was good to get a good race under my belt. It’s amazing to represent our country and to have the kit on and travel with the team, it’s just an amazing feeling.”
The action continues in the pool tomorrow with seven swimmers in action across the Men’s and Women’s 50m Backstroke and 100m Freestyle.
There is livestream coverage of selected Youth Games events, including tomorrow’s swimming finals, available to all non-Caribbean countries on www.oz.com/cyg2017
Broadcasts include Swimming, Athletics, Beach Volleyball, Beach Soccer and Boxing, with the full schedule available at: https://www.oz.com/cyg2017/schedule