As Euros cut a dash
an Indoors at the Emirates early next year.
Back in Scotland, there were more golden moments for home crowds to savour. Duncan Scott continued his emergence as Scotland’s most exciting swimmer since David Wilkie with a truly brilliant 200m freestyle victory from the outside lane eight to add to a silver in the 100m and a couple more relay golds as part of an exciting Great Britain team led by the peerless breaststroker Adam Peaty.
At the velodrome, Katie Archibald, who had recovered from a broken collarbone as recently as May, won team pursuit gold and yet, after ending her programme with two more silvers in omnium and individual pursuit and a fourth in the Madison, exuded disappointment on the final day, revealing again a victory or nothing attitude which marks out the truly special athletes from the merely talented.
There was also a glorious home city gold for Grace Reid in the 3m springboard at the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh. Eight years on from her major debut for Scotland as a 14-year-old in Delhi, Reid continues to impress greatly both on the board and out of the water.
Her simply stunning final pressure dive to snatch gold on Saturday was a joy 2 1, Duncan Scott collected four medals in the Tollcross pool – gold in the 200m freestyle, silver in the 100m and a couple of golds in the relays. 2, On the track in Berlin, Laura Muir became the first British women to win the 1,500m at the Europeans.
3, At the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh, local hero Grace Reid won gold in the 3m springboard.
4, Katie Archibald picked up three medals at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome – team pursuit gold and silvers in omnium and individual pursuit. 5, Eilidh Doyle, Scotland’s most decorated track athlete of all time, anchored the women’s 4x400m GB team home to bronze. 6, Dina Asher-smith made history with a sprint treble in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m disciplines.
“It would be a stretch to say Glasgow was gripped by a fever, and there were grumbles about road closures. There was, though, an undeniable buzz and good crowds creating excellent atmospheres at the three main arenas in the city”
to watch, as was the way she conducted the TV interview after heartbreak in the women’s synchro 24 hours later. Her partner Kat Torrance was too upset to face the cameras after her calamity in the final round saw the Brits drop out of the medals completely when gold had seemed certain. The Scot’s eloquent expressions of compassion, understanding and encouragement for her distraught English teammate saw Reid very much live up to her Christian name.
At the halfway point of this Olympic cycle, Muir, 25, Scott, 21, Archibald, 24, and Reid, 22, will now step up to test themselves in world championships next year – athletics in Doha, cycling in Pruszków, Poland, swimming and diving in Budapest. In two years this young exciting Scottish quartet should be at the peak of their powers and, hopefully, ready to deliver career-defining performances in Tokyo.