Team Scotland doubled their medal count on day two, claiming another six medals across the course of the day at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Duncan Scott took a gold and a bronze in just over an hour when he won the Men’s 200m Freestyle, before finishing third in the Men’s 400m Individual Medley just 65 minutes later.
The atmosphere at Sandwell was tense as Scott timed his last 200m to perfection as he tipped rival Tom Dean by just 0.39 to secure the gold. There was no rest for the double Commonwealth champion, as he swam solidly in the outside lane in 400m individual medley to claim bronze behind New Zealand’s Lewis Clareburt and Australia’s Brendon Smith.
An impressive swim from Stephen Clegg saw him claim silver in the S13 50m freestyle, narrowly missing out on gold by 0.01 seconds. Clegg was swimming up a discipline and in doing so broke the S12 British record.
To round off the evening in the pool, the women’s team with Lucy Hope on the lead leg, followed by Emma Russell, Tain Bruce and Evie Davis, swam a Scottish record in the women’s 4x100m relay.
Out on the roads in Birmingham, it was a superb silver and a season’s best (1.45.49) for Sean Frame on his Commonwealth Games debut in the men’s T54/53 marathon. The Lockerbie lad attacked the tough course and pushed right up to the end to win Team Scotland’s first athletics medal of the Games.
Over in the velodrome in London, it was another night to remember for Team Scotland as Jack Carlin won Keirin silver and Neah Evans won Individual Pursuit bronze. Carlin came in as one of the favourites, and duly delivered a sterling silver medal, Scotland’s best ever result in the Keirin at the Commonwealth Games. For Evans, it was a medal in an event she doesn’t typically train for, with the Aberdonian breaking the British record in the process.
In the para lawn bowls morning session, men’s para pairs Garry Brown and Kevin Wallace kept their winning streak intact with a comfortable 18-10 victory over South Africa. The win booked their place in the semi-finals with the remaining group matches establishing who they will meet in the semis. Australia was next in the afternoon and this time the Scots fell short in a 21-15 defeat. Meanwhile in the para women’s pairs, Pauline Wilson and Rosemary Lenton put in a great performance to come back from behind in the final end and beat New Zealand 15-12, but England then beat the Scots 19-7 in the afternoon session.
The men’s triples lawn bowls team were pushed all the way by a solid New Zealand side, but the Scots pulled off some big shots in the final end to claim a 15-14 victory in the morning session and book their place in the quarter final against Wales. Darren Burnett, Iain McLean and Stewart Anderson topped their section with 9 points and a 100% win ratio. Dee Hoggan’s drive to become Scotland’s first women’s singles medallist since 1986 continued in a positive direction with a dominant 21-5 win over Daphne Arthur-Almond of the Falkland Islands. Hoggan’s final section match ahead of the quarter finals will be against Laura Daniels of Wales tomorrow morning.
Alex Marshall and Paul Foster in the lawn bowls men’s pairs got their day underway with a 23-10 win over Niue and followed it up with an 18-11 victory over Canada. The men’s pairs have won three from three and take on New Zealand in their last section match tomorrow. The women’s fours clocked up a great result with a fantastic 16-9 victory against Australia but they won’t feature in the quarter finals.
Georgia Adderley got off to a great start in the women’s squash singles with a comfortable 3-0 win over Emma Keane of Bermuda. Adderley came through with 11-1; 11-3; and 11-1 game victory to ease through to the next round. Greg Lobban also powered through to the next round with a 3-0 victory over Ravindu Laksrki of Sri Lanka, winning 11-9; 11-4; and 12-10, before Rory Stewart made his second appearance in the men’s singles in Birmingham and earned a hard-fought 3-1 win against New Zealand’s Temwa Chileshe. Alan Clyne took on Abhay Singh of India and was in cruise control until his opponent retired in the second game. Clyne won the first game 11-3 and was 9-2 ahead in the second.
Adderley will play world number five ranked Joelle King of New Zealand; Lobban will play Chee Wern Yuen; Stewart will play Patrick Rooney of England; and Clyne will take on Joel Makin of Wales in the next round.
Scotland women’s hockey team lost a close match 1-0 against New Zealand. The Kiwis took the lead in the opening quarter through a penalty corner strike from the top of the D. Jen Eadie had the ball in the back of the net for Scotland in the second quarter but it was ruled out and New Zealand survived. Scotland battled hard but couldn’t find an equaliser and New Zealand took the points. Scotland women play Kenya on Monday.
Scotland’s Gymnastics women were in action for the first time today in the Women’s Team and Individual Qualifying event at the Arena Birmingham. All four put in strong performances and, while they didn’t quite hit a medal potential, they finished in a strong sixth place. Both Shannon Archer and Cara Kennedy will appear in the Women’s All-Around final tomorrow (Sunday 31 July) at 1430, and there will also be apparatus finals for Shannon (vault and uneven bars) and Cara (vault) on Monday 1 and Tuesday 2 August.
This evening saw the second pool match for Scotland’s Wheelchair Basketball Women’s team as they played South Africa on the Smithfield court with a fantastic party atmosphere. Jude Hamer was a scoring machine under the floodlights as she scored ten points for the team, ending with a 16-2 win. The women will wait for the results of tomorrow’s final pool game to find out who they’ll play in the semi-final on Monday 1 August.
The Badminton Mixed Team proceeded to the Quarter Finals with a commanding 4-1 victory against Uganda, and the group stage was rounded off with a tightly contested 2-3 loss to Canada. The Netball team’s campaign began with a 30-83 defeat to early favourites Australia but they will take the positives from a promising performance into their remaining pool matches. Weightlifter Jodey Hughes attempted to take home the first medal for Team Scotland at the NEC venues in the Women’s 55kg Final but was disappointed after three failed snatch attempts and a DNF.
An open draw will be conducted overnight to decide who the Badminton team faces in the Mixed Team Quarter Finals. Reese Lynch and Sam Hickey are set for a super Sunday of Boxing, as they contest respective Round of 16 bouts against India and Cameroon in the Men’s Light Welterweight and Middleweight categories. The Netball team round-off proceedings at the NEC with their second pool match against fellow home nation Wales after a tough but good game against Australia.