Commonwealth Games: Scotland kickstart Glasgow 2026 with three medals in 45 minutes

Scotland claimed three medals in a superb 45 minutes in the pool to kick off the hosts’ Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in fine style – and added a second gold of the day an hour after nearly lifting the lid from Tollcross in the city’s east end.

Poster boy Duncan Scott started the rush, defending his 200m individual medley gold by cutting a chunk off his own Games record from Birmingham four years earlier.

Then para-swimmer Stephen Clegg added silver in the 100m freestyle S13 – brother James IV – after fighting 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 imposing building eventually subsided, only for Faye Rogers to spark further bedlam with a sensational gold in the 200m individual medley SM10.

The drama all unfolded in the same tollcross pool where the 29-year-old Scot won his now 14th Games medal in 2014.

Scotland’s most decorated Commonwealth Games athlete was a wee boy then – just 17 – but is now a grown man and under pressure to make Scotland’s first presentation of flowers on this stage.

And he delivers sensationally, before closing it out in the freestyle as he moves away from the field on the backstroke and breaststroke legs.

Watching from the call room, Clegg couldn’t fail to wake up.

There were times last year where the 30-year-old thought she might not be at the Games and her swimming career was over.

But he reached Glasgow and managed to add another silver by winning the 50m event four years ago.

Shanahan came home from those Birmingham Games with two surprise bronze medals so the silver was an upgrade for another athlete who has come through a tough time in recent months.

Her Scottish teammate Holly McGill just missed out on a fourth medal.

That success was enough to satisfy the home crowd, but para-athlete Rogers delivered one of the most impressive performances of the night to win a second gold for the hosts and spark a second broadcast of the anthem.