Scotland's Scott splits Australian swim dominance at Commonwealths

Duncan Scott delivered hosts Scotland’s first gold medal of the Commonwealth Games to break up Australia’s dominance of the pool on the first full day of action in Glasgow on Friday.

With the programme nearly halved to just 10 sports, swimming is the highlight of the schedule across the opening weekend.

Scott set a Games record of 1min 56.38sec to win the 200-metre individual medley from New Zealand’s Lewis Clareburt and England’s Thomas Dean.

The 29-year-old now has four Commonwealth golds and 14 medals in total.

“It was a tough one because you really want to give the team some good momentum early doors and being one of the senior members of the team, the onus was on me,” said Scott.

“I was a bit nervous before that. Those boys made it tough, but I’m happy with that. It’s a good way to start the meet.”

Elsewhere, Australia’s green and gold topped the podium, with an extra bonus for those who emerged victorious.

Mining baron Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest person, is funding an incentive scheme of 20,000 Australian dollars ($14,000) for every gold medal and 30,000 Australian dollars for breaking a world record.

Aussie swimmers dominated in Birmingham four years ago, taking home nearly half of the 52 gold medals on offer, and won four of the five finals on opening night.

Lani Pallister was first to cash in as she led an Australian 1-2-3 in the women’s 400m freestyle.

Jenna Forrester took bronze in the first medal race of the night and then denied Katie Shanahan a Scottish gold to narrowly edge the women’s 200m backstroke.

Australia led home England and South Africa in both the men’s and women’s 4x100m freestyle races.

The Australian men’s team of Flynn Southam, Kai Taylor, Harrison Turner and Kyle Chalmers set a new Games record of 3mins 09.49sec.

By securing South Africa’s bronze on the final leg of the men’s race, Chad le Clos set a record with his 19th Commonwealth medal, more than any other male athlete.

Adam Ramsay-Peaty cruised into the final of the men’s 100m breaststroke back at the scene of his first international medals at the 2014 Games.

The three-time Olympic gold medallist set the fastest time in the semi-finals.

– Canada win disrupted gymnastics –

Canada claimed gold in the men’s gymnastics team final, but the event was overshadowed by a sickening fall for England’s Gabriel Langton.

England were second heading into the final apparatus on the high bar when Langton slipped off and came down head first.

The 19-year-old was able to move his arms and legs before being carefully stretchered away from the arena, but the competition was held up for 20 minutes as he received medical attention.

The fall also allowed Canada to ease to gold, with England taking silver and Australia edging out Scotland for bronze.

“It was really tough. We just had to reset, try to put it to one side mentally and focus on the job we had to do. I think everyone should be proud of the way we carried on after Gabe’s fall,” said England’s Luke Whitehouse.

Mark Swan won the first gold of the Games with a dramatic victory in the men’s lightweight category of the para powerlifting.

Swan thought he had come up short after failing with his final lift, but he had in fact topped the standings ahead of Nigeria’s Roland Ezuruike by the slimmest of margins, based on a coefficient related to body weight.

Swan lifted 222kg, more than three times his body weight, with his second lift, but said: “I came back off the third lift and thought, ‘Well, I’ve got bronze’. My coach said ‘good job on gold’. I thought he was winding me up!”

Nigeria dominated the other para powerlifting events with three golds, including a world record of 175kg for Folashade Oluwafemiayo in the heavyweight division.