| Hosts: Birmingham Dates: 28 July to 8 August |
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Duncan Scott swaggered out of the call room, headphones clamped on, arms aloft, and with a smirk on his face. It was clear the Scot fancied it. Clear to those in the arena. And, more pertinently, clear to those racing alongside him.
Less than five minutes later, his big pal Tom Dean – the man who beat him in last summer’s Olympic 200m freestyle final – had been consigned to silver.
“An incredible athlete. A natural-born swimmer. A natural-born racer,” was how Dean described him. He wasn’t wrong.
Scott turned after the first 50m in fourth place, with Dean setting the pace. The Englishman still led at the halfway mark, but the Scot uncorked his best stuff in the third 50m and rarely looked like ceding that advantage.
The two will duel again this week but, for now, Tokyo was forgotten.
Within an hour, Scott was back in the pool for the 400m individual medley. Loitering in lane one. Out of the way.
Out of contention? Not in the minds of the other seven fellas who’d just heard him lustily deliver a magnificently out-of-tune rendition of Flower of Scotland on the podium, roaring the words at his team-mates, who roared back from the stands.
“It’s one of the most gruelling doubles you can take on,” said Olympic bronze medallist Steve Parry on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Might Scott lack a little stamina after being forced to miss the world championships after a bout of Covid? No chance. The 25-year-old from Alloa might not have had the pace to fight for gold, but a bronze was never in doubt.
“Aye, it was a good evening,” he told BBC Sport Scotland, barely flinching.
“Standing on the podium was a really special moment because we’re a small nation, a small team, and we’ve all raced together for years so when something like that happens it really means something to us all.”
But it might get even more special. Scott goes again tomorrow in the 200m butterfly knowing that one more medal would make him the joint most decorated Scottish Games athlete alongside shooter Alister Allan.
“I’ll leave you guys to keep count on that…” he said.
Clegg enjoys ‘best 24 seconds of his life’
Scott was still dripping when the second Scottish medal of the night was claimed by James Clegg.
The 28-year-old brother of sprinter-turned-cyclist Libby came within 0.01 seconds of taking a second gold in two races for Scotland, but was beaten to the touch by Nicolas Turbide of Canada in the 50m freestyle S13.
But Clegg, who won three medals at the Tokyo Paralympics, was more than happy with silver on his Commonwealth debut.
“It would’ve been great to follow up Duncan’s amazing performance but I can’t complain because it was a huge PB,” he said.
“I’m not upset because I had no expectations of winning. It was only a 24-second race but they were among the best 24 seconds of my life.”
