Shooter David McMath secured an historic gold medal for Scotland as day seven of the Commonwealth Games got underway with a bang on the Gold Coast.
The double trap shooter picked up gold for his country, taking their medal tally to 30 Down Under after an earlier bronze for Linda Pearson in the women's double trap – the best they’ve ever produced at an overseas Games.
But there was double celebration for the home nations as the Isle of Man picked up their first medal of the Games with Tim Kneale securing silver behind McMath.
And it took nothing short of a Games record to beat him, the Scot finishing with 74 targets to his name – four ahead of Kneale and 21 clear of bronze-medallist Ankur Mittal of India.
"I'm absolutely loving it, I couldn't have asked for more,” said McMath, a 21-year-old civil engineering student at the University of Strathclyde.
"I haven't really performed that well since we've been here. It's a really tricky range, so to come away with what is a pretty good score given the conditions, I'm really happy.
"I shot very well, but being full-time here has been so hard, so to come here in the end is so fantastic.
"I've never been in a final as big as that before and it's a totally new experience."
Only since January have Katherine Torrance and Alicia Blagg operated a 3m synchronised springboard partnership – already they are Commonwealth silver medallists.
The pair had just two weeks training prior to their Games but put their limited time together to good use, second only to Australian Commonwealth champions Esther Qin and Georgia Sheehan.
For Blagg it was a second medal in succession, champion with Rebecca Gallantree at Glasgow 2014, with this her partner’s first Commonwealth Games having competed at Rio 2016.
A score of 276.90 was enough for them to take second spot on the podium, a forward two-and-a-half somersaults and one twist gave them their highest score of 64.80.
“It’s honestly a bit surreal, we’ve not really trained together as I live in Miami and Kat lives in Leeds so this is the only time we’ve had together,” said Blagg.
“We weren’t expecting anything, so to come away with a silver medal is really great. We are really happy.”
Torrance added: “At the end of the day it’s about who can hold their nerve and keep their heads and today it just happened to be us.
“It’s about keeping your focus, getting your spot and not worrying about anyone else.
“We obviously wanted to do well but we didn’t have any expectations.”
Northern Ireland’s Kristina O’Hara is guaranteed at least a silver medal at coming through her women’s 45kg boxing semi-final.
The 22-year-old beat new Zealand’s Tasmyn Benny to set up a clash with India’s MC Mery Kom on Saturday.
O’Hara was one of 17 home nations boxers in action on Wednesday, with Northern Ireland teammates Steven Donnelly and Brendan Irvine also guaranteeing themselves a bronze medal with a quarter-final wins.
There were also wins for England’s Paige Murney and Scotland’s Reece McFadden and John Docherty.
England netballers continued to impress, recording their biggest victory over New Zealand to reach the semi-final stage.
The England Roses, who finished fourth at Glasgow 2014, beat the Kiwis 54-45 in their final Pool B game for their first victory over their opponents at a Commonwealth Games.
That saw them top the group and set up a last four clash against either defending champions Australia or Jamaica on Saturday.
"I don't care about humiliating whoever I play against. We don't care who we are up against, we are here for England,” said Jo Harten. "I think that is the first time that New Zealand have lost two in the pool stages, but to be honest that is music to my ears."
Meanwhile Northern Ireland finished off their campaign with a 73-46 win over Fiji to finish fourth in Pool A.
Jake Sheaf and Chris Gregory will aim to leave the Gold Coast with a bronze medal among their luggage after missing out on the gold medal match.
The English duo were playing home favourites Australia in the semi-final on Wednesday but lost out to Christopher McHugh and Damien Schumann 21-13 21-16 in 40 minutes.
All is not lost though with a bronze medal match against either New Zealand or Canada on Thursday.
Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour was among those to progress through to the last 16 of the women’s badminton singles while England’s Paul Drinkhall and Liam Pitchford were among those to come through their men’s round of 32 match in the table tennis, Scotland’s Craig Howieson and Gavin Rumgay doing likewise.
Wales lost to Malaysia 1-0 in their final women’s hockey match of the Games and England’s Robert Paxton got back to winning ways on the lawn bowls green while later today the England women’s triples team will contest their quarter-final.
Sportsbeat 2018