Ross Murdoch broke the Commonwealth Games record for the second time in a day to deny hot favourite Michael Jamieson as Scotland claimed gold and silver in the men’s 200m breaststroke on Thursday.
Murdoch finished nearly a second ahead of his teammate in a time of 2min 07:30sec, whilst Andrew Willis took the bronze for England.
Glasgow-born Jamieson had been one of the mot prominent athletes in the build-up to the Games having won silver in the same event at the 2012 London Olympics.
However, just as in the morning heat, he had no answer for Murdoch’s kick in the final 50 metres as the 20-year-old broke clear to claim Scotland’s second swimming gold medal of the evening after Hannah Miley retained her Commonwealth title in the 400m individual medley.
“I am lost for words. I never thought that would become a reality,” said Murdoch.
“It was always a dream of mine to come out to a home crowd and perform my best, but it is something I can’t explain. In that last 50 metres to have that many people cheering you on it is something I will remember for the rest of my life. It meant the world to me and I just can’t believe it has happened.”
For Jamieson a silver medal was scant consolation after losing out on the biggest prize in a race he had described for months as the biggest of his career to date.
“I’m obviously gutted. I didn’t train for second place. I came here to win,” he said. I am a sponsored athlete, I am associated with some of the biggest companies around, but Ross deserves to win tonight. He has been swimming world class times all season.”