Stephen Clegg fought back the tears after claiming an emotional Commonwealth gold. The Scottish swimmer, 30, turned Birmingham S13 50m freestyle silver into Glasgow glory in front of a raucous Tollcross Centre crowd. Clegg beat South African Nathan Hendricks and Canadian Nicolas Guy Turbide to cap a hugely turbulent year both in and out of the pool.
Injury and family sacrifice
The two-time Paralympic champion was forced to take a year out of the sport with a shoulder injury after grabbing a memorable pair of golds in Paris. And in bouncing back in style on home Scottish soil, he was also forced to miss sister Libby's wedding at the weekend in order to chase his Commonwealth dream. The same went for brother James – who finished fifth in Stephen's race last night – and the newly-crowned champion was left to reflect on what have been a hugely difficult few months.
“I’m not a particularly emotive human being, but I was really struggling to contain myself on the podium and had tears in my eyes,” he said. “I was trembling on the podium – the only other time I’ve experienced that was when I won gold in Paris. But this was a more special moment for me.
“I swam beyond myself there and the only reason I could do that was because of my home crowd – I had no expectation of doing that. I had my friends, family and closest all here - this is not just my gold medal, it’s theirs as well.
“I’m nothing without my team, they bring out best in me. When I feel sorry for myself, pack it in after a few bad swims they give me a wakeup call and get me back in the game. I’m hugely grateful to everyone.”
Wedding details
On the wedding he and older brother James, 32, were forced to miss, Stephen added: “It was a three-day wedding and they all came up today – it was amazing to see them.
“They did do the ceremony where everything was signed a couple of weeks ago, which I was able to go to – that was in Edinburgh so I wasn’t fully left out. I got the more intimate version of it!”
Other results
Elsewhere, Katie Shanahan narrowly missed out on a medal in her 200m individual medley event with a fourth-place finish, while fellow Scot Anna Morgan was sixth in the 50m breaststroke.
Matt Richards is relishing the prospect of a spicy Battle of Britain clash and revealed his trusted pre-race fuel – a cheeky Glasgow Nando’s. The Welsh star, 23, won 100m freestyle silver to gear up for this evening’s hotly-anticipated showdown.
Richards will duel it out with Scotland’s Duncan Scott and England’s Tom Dean and James Guy for 200m freestyle glory – the quartet who combined for two Olympic relay titles in Tokyo and Paris. Asked on how he would prepare, he said: “A little Nando’s – I did it last night and it worked today!”
Amalie Smith, 16, followed up her stunning 400m individual medley silver medal with 200m bronze. The teenage sensation finished third behind established stars Jenna Forrester and Aimee Canny to cap a dream 24 hours.
“I'm really tired but I'm so, so happy,” she said.
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