With Team Scotland triathletes in World Cup action and our Table Tennis players honing their skills at a pre-Games training camp in Germany, both sports step into the Sport Focus spotlight as they continue their countdown to the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Look out for all things Triathlon and Table Tennis on Team Scotland’s website and social channels this week as both sports share the spotlight in our Sport Focus Series, which features each of the 18 sports on the Gold Coast 2018 programme through athlete interviews, facts & figures, competition news and more.

Triathlon at the Commonwealth Games

Triathlon made its Commonwealth Games debut in 2002 at the Manchester Games and returned to the sport programme at Glasgow 2014, having not featured at the Delhi 2010 Games. It has since been elevated to a core sport and is included for 2018 along with Para-Triathlon, now an optional discipline, which will make its debut in Gold Coast.

The Mixed Team Relay, which made its debut at Glasgow 2014, is back by popular demand, meaning that there will be five gold medals on offer in the sport in Gold Coast.

Showcasing the splendour of the Gold Coast, the Triathlon will start and finish at the beautiful Southport Broadwater Parklands.

Find out more about Triathlon in the Commonwealth Games, including the competition format, rules and equipment on our dedicated Triathlon page.

Table Tennis at the Commonwealth Games

Table Tennis first appeared on the Commonwealth Games programme in Manchester 2002 and has appeared at each Games since. Originally optional, it has now been made a core sport.

There is also a Para-Sport Table Tennis discipline which is an optional discipline and is included in Gold Coast 2018.

Singapore has dominated the sport at the Commonwealth Games, winning 18 gold medals and topping the Table Tennis medal standings at every Games that the sport has been contested.

Find out more about Table Tennis in the Commonwealth Games, including the competition format, rules and equipment on our dedicated Table Tennis page.

Team Scotland 2018

Paralympic Games gold medallist Karen Darke will take to the start line in Gold Coast where Para-Triathlon makes its debut. Since being paralysed from the chest down in a climbing accident age 21, the Inverness based athletes has pushed herself in an incredible series of challenges, alongside her sporting endeavours, including crossing Greenland’s ice cap and climbing Mont Blanc, Matterhorn and El Capitan.

Beth Potter makes her Commonwealth Games debut as a triathlete, having competed in Athletics at Glasgow 2014, Rio 2016 Olympic Games and 2017 World Athletics Championships. She is joined by Erin Wallace, star of the track at the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games, where she won gold over 1500m. On the men’s side, there is a return to Team Scotland for Marc Austin, who thrilled the home crowd in Strathclyde Park during Glasgow 2014 as part of a three-man breakaway with the Brownlee brothers, while Grant Sheldon, World University Championships gold medallist last year, is also selected for his second Games.

Click here to meet the Triathlon team for Gold Coast 2018.

In Table Tennis, Perth’s Gavin Rumgay returns to Team Scotland for a fourth Commonwealth Games, having taken a record-equalling 12th Scottish Championship Singles title in 2017.

He is joined by nine times Scottish Men’s Doubles champion Craig Howieson, who first represented Team Scotland at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games and will make his third senior Games appearance in Gold Coast. Making his Commonwealth Games debut will be 23 year old Colin Dalgleish, who represented Great Britain at the 2017 World University Games. All three will play in the Singles and Team event, with Gavin and Craig pairing up in the Men’s Doubles.

Click here to meet the Table Tennis team for Gold Coast 2018

A total of 211 athletes have been named to Team Scotland for Gold Coast 2018 to date, with athletes announced in all sports except Rugby 7s. These final athletes will be named in March.

Show Your Support!

You can show your support by uploading photos and messages on our supporters page and give Team Scotland’s athletes a boost as they prepare to do the country proud on one of sport’s biggest stages!

Look out for other ways to get behind the team in the countdown to Gold Coast on Team Scotland’s social media channels.

Scotland at the Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games is the only occasion where Scotland gets to compete in a multi-sport event as a nation in its own right and is one of only six countries to have competed in every Commonwealth Games since their inception in Hamilton in 1930. Represented by 15 athletes participating in six sports at those first Games, winning a very creditable 10 medals, Scotland have gone on to win medals at every Games since.

Edinburgh became the first city to hold the Games twice in 1970 and 1986 and also became the first city to host the Commonwealth Youth Games.

Scotland hosted the Games for a third time when Glasgow welcomed athletes and officials to the XXth Commonwealth Games which was held from 23rd July – 3rd August 2014. Team Scotland celebrated their most successful Games in history, winning a total of 53 medals.

Find out more about the Commonwealth Games and Team Scotland’s past success in our Past Games section.