Angharad Evans continued the Commonwealth Games gold rush for Scotland with a dramatic win in the women’s 100m breaststroke final tonight.
It took the nation’s tally of gold medals to four after Reuben Ward became the first ever Scottish winner of the men’s all-round gymnastics event earlier in the day.
Evans’ success at Tollcross International Swimming Centre followed on from the memorable first day of competition on Friday night when Duncan Scott and Faye Rogers also triumphed in the pool for Scotland’s first two golds.
Scott was unable to add to his collection of medals in the 4x200m freestyle final tonight, however, as he anchored Scottish team-mates George Smith, Matt Ward and Evan Jones to fourth place.
The spotlight this time firmly belonged to 23-year-old Evans, who came into her final as favourite but had to stretch every sinew to edge out Aimee Canny of South Africa by just 0.12 of a second in a blanket finish to the race.
It is the first major international title of Cambridge-born Evans’ career and she is strongly fancied to add a second gold in the 200m breaststroke final on Wednesday night.
Angharad Evans displays her gold medal after winning the 100m breaststroke final in Glasgow
Evans stretched every sinew to become Scotland’s fourth champion at these Games
‘It’s just so special to win this title in front of a home crowd,’ said Evans who qualified to represent Scotland under residency rules after being based at the University of Stirling for the past three years.
‘Scotland has given me everything as a swimmer and I just wanted to give something back. The crowd was amazing and it definitely gives you something extra wearing this suit. It was a stressful finish but I always back myself to get the touch in those situations.’
It was another dominant night in the pool for Australia who claimed five gold medals, including a 50m freestyle triumph for Olympic champion Cam McEvoy.
