Scotland claimed three medals in a magnificent 45 minutes in the pool to kick-start the hosts’ Commonwealth Games in fine style in Glasgow – and added a second gold of the day an hour later to almost take the lid off Tollcross in the city’s east end.
Poster boy Duncan Scott started the rush, defending his 200m individual medley gold from Birmingham four years ago by slicing a chunk off his own Games record.
Then Para-swimmer Stephen Clegg added silver in 100m freestyle S13 – with brother James fourth – after battling back from an injury-ravaged year.
And Katie Shanahan upgraded her 2022 Games bronze to silver in the 200m backstroke.
The frenzied scenes around this clammy building eventually abated, only for Faye Rogers to spark more bedlam with a rampant gold in the 200m individual medley SM10.
The drama all unfolded at the same Tollcross pool where 29-year-old Scott won the first of his now 14 Games medals in 2014.
Scotland’s most decorated Commonwealth Games athlete was a wee boy then – just 17 – but is a big man now and was under pressure to deliver a first rendition of Flower of Scotland at this staging.
And he delivered sensationally, streaking away from the field in the backstroke and breaststroke legs before closing it out in the freestyle.
Watching from the call room, Clegg could not fail to be roused.
There were times over the past year where the 30-year-old thought he might not be at these Games, and that his swimming career was over.
But he made it to Glasgow and managed to add another silver to the won he claimed in the 50m event four years ago.
Shanahan came home from that Birmingham Games with two surprise bronze medals so silver was an upgrade for another athlete who has come through tough times in recent months.
Her Scottish team-mate Holly McGill just missed out on the medals in fourth.
That success would have been sufficent to sate the home crowd, but Para-athlete Rogers delivered one of the most dominant performances of the night to clinch a second gold for the hosts and spark a second airing of the anthem.
