Commonwealth Games: Ross Murdoch takes 200m breastroke title, Hannah Miley also wins gold
Last Updated: 24/07/14 11:28pm
Ross Murdoch upstaged fellow Scottish swimmer Michael Jamieson to take Commonwealth gold in the 200 metres breaststroke in Glasgow.
Olympic silver medallist Jamieson was the big favourite before the final but Murdoch cruised away from him over the final two lengths to take the title, with Jamieson completing a Scotland 1-2.
Dumbarton swimmer Murdoch touched the wall in a Games record of 2 minutes 7.30 seconds, which was also the fastest time ever in the event by a British swimmer. England's Andrew Willis was third.
"There's no way that just happened. I can't believe it. That was amazing. It's a dream come true," a stunned Murdoch said.
"It was a massive personal best for me. I didn't think I could do that if I'm honest. I'm so surprised. I can't believe it's just happened."
Scotland's Hannah Miley had earlier delighted the home crowd as she successfully defended her 400 metres individual medley title.
Miley pipped Aimee Willmott of England at the finish to take the win in a Games-record time of 4 minutes 31.76 seconds.
Willmott led from the 150m mark but Miley clawed her back going into the final turn and then raced away over the last part of the freestyle leg to take the win.
Playing catch-up
"It was always going to be a great race between myself and Aimee. Her first half is so much stronger than mine so I knew it was going to be such a close race," Miley said.
She added of the home crowd: "It's pretty cool actually. It's quite hard to stay in your bubble and concentrate, but I used it in the heats and everyone is just rising off it."
Willmott's silver was followed by an English bronze in the men's 400m freestyle for James Guy. He touched in a time of 3:44:58, behind Canadian winner Ryan Cochrane and Australian David McKeon.
England's Siobhan-Marie O'Connor looked to be on course for gold in the women's 200m freestyle having led from the off but was passed in the second half of the race by Emma McKeon of Australia
Former Youth Olympic champion McKeown would not be pegged back after taking the lead off the penultimate turn that and took gold in a Games-record time of 1:55:57, with O'Connor taking silver.
