Four standout performers make up an incredibly strong shortlist for Male Athlete of the Year at the 2018 Team Scotland Scottish Sports Awards on 13 September.

Last year’s winner, swimmer Duncan Scott, is once again in the frame after a phenomenal year, alongside lawn bowls legend Alex Marshall MBE, the 2014 winner. They are joined by cyclist Mark Stewart and middle-distance runner Jake Wightman as the four go head to head for the prestigious award sponsored by Brand Oath.

With six medals at Gold Coast 2018 Duncan Scott became Scotland’s most successful athlete at a single Commonwealth Games, his gold in the 100m Freestyle the undoubted highlight, as he touched ahead of multiple World Champion and four-time Olympic medallist Chad le Clos of South Africa. It was the first time a Scottish athlete has ever won this event and he was just four hundredths of a second outside the Games record. Three gold and one sliver, plus two Championship records at the European Championships in front of a home crowd in Glasgow rounded off an incredible few months for the 21 year old.

Alex Marshall also made history in Gold Coast, as a record-breaking fifth gold medal made him Scotland’s most successful Commonwealth Games athlete of all-time ahead of sprinter Allan Wells and his own Pairs partner Paul Foster. Already a legend of the sport with four Commonwealth Games gold medals and multiple World titles, Alex took silver in the Pairs with Foster before the duo teamed up with Ronnie Duncan and Derek Oliver in the Fours to go one better. The final will go down as one of the most exciting matches at the Games, as Scotland beat Australia 15-13.

Having won bronze at the 2018 World Championships in the Points Race, Mark Stewart attacked the same event at the Commonwealth Games, winning gold and beating five-time World Champion Cameron Mayer in the process. One of the most memorable races of the Games, his exhaustion at the end of race showed all those watching the sheer commitment involved in the biggest win of his career, helped from his bike and collapsing in the infield having emptied his energy reserves. He was also a double medallist at the World Cup in Canada with silver in the Points Race and bronze in the Madison.

One of only a few Scottish athletes to do the Commonwealth Games and European Championships medal double with bronze medals at both events, Jake Wightman is a rising star of British athletics and is maturing into an absolutely world class athlete. In Gold Coast he overcame the disappointment of an agonisingly close 4th place finish in the 800m to claim his place on the podium with a stunning run in the 1500m final. At the European Championships in Berlin he put in another brilliant performance and was just a fraction of a second from European gold. A World Indoor Championships finalist, he also broke the long standing Scottish 1000m record, set in 1984.

Paul Bush, Chairman, Commonwealth Games Scotland said: “All three finalists have excelled on the international stage and each would be a worthy winner of this award. I congratulate them on their success and look forward to celebrating their achievements on what will be a memorable and inspirational night.”

Sponsor of the Male Athlete of the Year Award, Brand Oath is a branding agency with a distinctive track record. Their skills have been honed in the high pressure and deeply scrutinised world of international sports and major events branding. They combine the positive values associated with honest sporting endeavour with design and branding experience to provide you with that competitive edge that could be the difference between winning and losing. Whichever sector you operate in, whether that’s within the sports arena or outside it, you operate in a competitive world, prepare to win with Brand Oath.

Winners across all award categories will be crowned at the Team Scotland Scottish Sports Awards in a star-studded celebration of Scottish sport on 13 September at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.