SILVER JOY FOR JACK
New Zealand ace proves too strong for Paisley rider
Paisley’s Jack Carlin rounded off a stellar weekend in the velodrome for Scotland as he clinched silver in the Commonwealth Games’ men’s sprint.
The former Gleniffer High School cyclist, who finished fourth in the keirin on Friday, bounced back to reach the final of the sprint.
But he admitted he was disappointed to come second to New Zealand’s defending Commonwealth Games champion, Sam Webster, 2-0 in the final.
He said: “Hats off to him, he was the better rider on the day. I think he did better to conserve energy through the day. I’m disappointed.
“It’s not first, though. But I suppose it is a sign of good things to come.”
Carlin lit up the track with some excellent racing, first by registering a Games record of 9.650 and progressing to the next round as the second fastest, after Australian Matt Glaetzer bettered the Scotsman’s run in 9.583.
In the quarter- final Englishman Joseph Truman won the opening sprint before Carlin responded with back-toback triumphs to progress to the semifinal, where he would defeat Australia’s Jacob Schmid two-nil.
That win secured his place in the race for gold, but he was edged out by +0.429 and +0.005 seconds in the first two races to end the night as runner-up, but he has a bright future ahead of him.
He added: “Finishing fourth in the keirin gave me hunger to try and get a good finish today.
“Competing for Team Scotland has been a dream of mine ever since I was sitting in the stands at the last Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
“I said ‘I want to be there one day’, and now I have a medal to show that I was.”
Elsewhere, there was disappointment for Scotland when Olympic gold and silver medallist Callum Skinner withdrew after taking ill overnight.
Earlier in the day, Australia’s defending champion Matthew Glaetzer, who beat Carlin in that world final five weeks ago, suffered a shock defeat to Malaysia’s Muhummad Sahrom, having set a new Commonwealth Games record in the first round.