There are generals from banana republics with fewer medals on their chests than Duncan Scott. And when the pressure was highest at a home Commonwealth Games, the most decorated Scottish athlete of all time delivered again.
On paper it looked like a stacked men’s 200m individual medley, with world and Olympic champions, including New Zealander Lewis Clareburt and England’s Tom Dean, lurking with intent. But Scott had other ideas.
After a strong butterfly, the 29-year-old applied the squeeze on the backstroke and breaststroke and then delivered the coup de grace on the freestyle to take gold in 1min 56.38sec, nearly half a second clear of Clareburt, who took silver, with Dean claiming bronze.
To make Scott’s victory even sweeter, he also broke the Commonwealth record. No wonder that he lifted his arms up in the air and started to pound his chest like a silverback after leaving the pool. “I was a wee bit nervous before that,” he admitted. “Being one of the senior members of the team, the onus is kind of me. Those boys made it tough.”
Scott has now won eight Olympic medals, 10 world medals, and 14 at the Commonwealth Games. The way he is swimming, he is going to need a bigger medal cabinet by the end of next week.
But this is just the start of a gruelling process. At the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, he swam 11 races in five days and won six medals. In Birmingham in 2022 it was 12 in five, and he won six more. So when asked how he would celebrate this latest gold, he said he didn’t know. “Probably an early night,” he eventually replied.
Meanwhile Dean was happy with his individual bronze, knowing that better chances of winning gold lie ahead. “I have raced Duncan my whole adult career,” he said. “To stand next to him, to walk out with him in front of his crowd, it was something I will never forget. I am fortunate to call him a training partner as well as a friend.”
Another star of these Games, Adam Ramsay-Peaty had to work to win his 100m breaststroke semi-final ahead of Jersey’s teenage sensation Filip Nowacki.
Ramsay-Peaty was through halfway in a lightning quick 27.40sec but the 18-year-old Nowacki came back at him in the second half. But it wasn’t quite enough as Ramsay-Peaty held on to win by less than half a second in 59.19. Australia’s Sam Williamson finished fastest in the other semi-final in 59.27.
Asked about his thoughts on Saturday’s final, Ramsay-Peaty smiled. “I’m not going to shy away from the fact that I want to win,” Ramsay-Peaty replied. “I’m still going to be a scrapper.”
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But Nowacki, who is awaiting his A-Level results in maths, economics and physics, believes he can spring a surprise. “To race arguably the greatest breaststroker of all time is very special,” he said. “Can I beat him? I’m going to say yes. My training’s been progressing really well, so I’m going to give it my best and we’ll see who gets their hand on the wall first.”
Elsewhere it was a great night for Australia, who won four golds. It started on the first race of the night, as Lani Pallister pushed clear in the last 100m to beat New Zealander Erika Fairweather in the 400m freestyle in 3:59.56, with another Australian Hannah Fredericks taking bronze.
Just 44 minutes later, Fredericks was back in the pool and had the energy to launch a late surge to win the 200m backstroke ahead of Scotland’s Katie Shanahan in a thriller.
Two more golds followed as Australia then won the women’s and men’s 4x100m freestyle relays, with England taking silver in both races.
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