City stops to cheer on cycling heroines...
Sports stars see city at a standstill as festival brings music to Championships
THOUSANDS of spectators lined the streets of Glasgow to cheer on the Women’s Road Race on the fourth day of the European Championships 2018.
Revellers spent the day enjoying sporting excellence before the Festival 2018 celebrations kicked off with performances from Colonel Mustard & the Dijon 5 and the Biggest Massaoke Scotland ever.
As well as taking over Glasgow’s streets, the event got under way at the SSE Hydro, Strathclyde Park, Tollcross Swimming Centre, Scotstoun Sports Campus and the Emirates Arena.
Scot land’s very own Duncan Scott won gold as part of the British 4 x 200m freestyle relay team after securing a silver medal in 48.23 at the hard- fought men’s 100m final.
He came in second to Italy’s Alessandro Miressi.
Sportscotland Chair, Mel Young, said: “Congratulations to Duncan and the team on four brilliant swims and a well deserved gold medal.
“Duncan is one of many Scottish swimmers succeeding at the very highest level, we are determined to build on these successes by continuing to support our top athletes and hel pi n g i nc rease participation.
“Swimming at grassroots level in Scotland is in a great place. We are delighted to have made 13 awards to swimming clubs through our Direct Club Investment, totalling over £ 389,000. The majority of these awards are supporting membership programmes, helping local clubs to develop and improve.”
Britain’s Laura Kenny won her second gold medal of the competition with victory in the women’s elimination race.
Germany’s Anna Knauer and Russia’s Evgenia Augustinas won silver and bronze respectively as Kenny secured her 12th European title.
It was Italy’s Marta Bastianelli who claimed gold in the Road Race, which travelled past some of Glasgow’s most famous landmarks, including passing George Square nine times.
The 130 kilometre stretch saw the Italian cyclist beat the likes of Sophie Wright from Great Britain and Sabrina Stultiens and Lucinda Brand of the Netherlands to the title.
Elsewhere, Scottish rower Harry Leask put in a brilliant performance to take bronze in the Men’s Double Scull at Strathclyde Park.
Harry was joined by Jack Beaumont for the medal winning race.
Director of High Performance at sportscotland, Mike W h i t t i n g h a m , s a id : “Congratulations to Harry on winning bronze in a hard fought race today. The standard at this year’s European Rowing Championships is incredibly high so to come away with a medal is a fantastic achievement.
“Harry’s performance comes as rowing in Scotland continues to go from strength to strength with playing membership increasing by just over 20 per cent in the last three years – testament to the hard work of everyone at Scottish Rowing.”
James Wilby was given no time to relax after Saturday night’s silver medal in the 100m breaststroke.
He was back in the pool on Sunday morning for the 200m heats.
The 24- year- old swam in the second heat of the 200m event just over 15 hours after the record breaking 100m event, and showed the European competition that he still had plenty to give.
He qualified just behind British Record holder Ross Murdoch, who finished in the fifth fastest time.
Murdoch said: “This morning was a good heats swim, I’ve learnt my lessons over the last few years.
“I don’t know what it is about heat swims, but they always feel really good.
“When I stick to what my stroke rate is normally on the way out I always end up way too fast so I just had to take it really slow, build the back end and see what I can come away with – and I did come away with a good time.
“People have said to me ‘ You must have been gutted not to win at the Commonwealth Games’ and I was disappointed with that swim, but not because of the result.
“It was to do with myself and the way I had executed my race plan so when I look back at the 100m race there was nothing wrong with that race plan – it was my fastest back end ever so at the end of the day I put myself in the best place possible, but it just turns out James is having an absolutely outstanding year.
“There have been quite a few times where I have been on the right side of the result from James’ perspective. Times when I’ve beaten him by a couple of hundreds of a second, so it’s about time he got some back!”
There was also a tough contest in the 200m Individual Medley where Mark Szaranek, Max Litchfield and Duncan Scott finished in the fastest three times.
Szaranek swam a personal best time to secure the fastest qualifying spot with Litchfield, at his first major meet since a shoulder injury, swam a Season’s Best to clinch second place.
Duncan Scott missed out as only the top two swimmers f rom each nat ion can progress.
Boglarka Devai of Hungary became the women’s European vau l t champion Boglarka Devai, Belgium’s Nina Derwael defended her Uneven Bars title and Sanne Wevers took gold in the women’s Balance Beam final.