Scotland athletes set new Commonwealth Games gold medal record

Scotland set a new national record for gold medals in Commonwealth Games following lawn bowls success for Alex Marshall and Paul Foster, as their win in the men's pairs event took them to the 12-gold mark, surpassing the tally at Melbourne in 2006.

Libby Clegg's gold in the T12 100-metre at Hampden on Monday evening matched their best total medal haul of 33.

Mike Whittingham, director of high performance at the Sportscotland institute of sport, hailed the effort and said that Marshall and Foster have dominated world bowls over the last few years and to add another Commonwealth title to their collection, especially one as historic as this, is extremely fitting, The BBC reported.

Whittingham said that he is really looking forward to seeing the rest of the Team Scotland athletes competing, and is sure that they would be going all out to try to add to the already impressive medal tally.

Day five's two golds and a bronze, for Jen McIntosh in the 50-metre rifle prone, mean that Scotland has now equalled its record of 33 medals at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh in 1986.

Marshall's triumph in the lawn bowls is his third Commonwealth title after pairs victories in 2002 and 2006, but the athlete said that winning in front of a home crowd was his biggest achievement to date.

Marshall said that this is just fantastic, adding that he has won two golds before but this one tops the lot.

Foster, who won a Commonwealth pairs gold in Melbourne eight years ago, had feared that his chances of landing a second had been ruined just a fortnight before the game when his prize bowls were stolen.

However, they were soon returned to the Troon taxi driver and he lapped up his latest triumph, saying that he did not think anything would beat 2006 but this tops everything, adding that to win a gold on home soil is a feeling that would live with him forever.

Later Clegg secured Scotland's first athletics gold of these Commonwealth Games with a T11/12 100 metres victory at Hampden Park. The visually impaired 24-year-old and guide Mikail Huggins were roared over the line by the partisan crowd in a world-leading 12.20 seconds.

Clegg said that it felt incredible, adding that it was an absolutely fantastic experience, she loved every second of it and the crowd was just phenomenal.