Image source, ReutersImage caption, Scotland's Duncan Scott (centre) set a new Games record to beat Lewis Clareburt of New Zealand (left) and England's Tom Dean (right).
ByRichard WintonBBC Sport Scotland at Tollcross International Swimming Centre- Published11 minutes ago
Duncan Scott and Tom Dean have won together. They've lost together. They train together in Stirling.
And at a thumping Tollcross on Friday, they stood together on the blocks waiting for the first big swimming final of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow to start.
Scott in lane two. Dean in lane three. Back to back. Little more than a metre between them. But by the end of the 200m individual medley that distance had grown. And grown significantly.
Scotland's poster boy Scott might have only finished little under a second in front of his big pal from England - who had to settle for bronze - but that is a lifetime in the world of elite swimming.
The 29-year-old's time of 1:56.38 was rapid for four lengths of furious thrashing, each one a different stroke.
It was near-enough half a second quicker than the Games record he set in denying Dean gold in Birmingham four years ago.
"I'm pretty happy with that," the never-knowingly overstated Scott told BBC Sport after an emotional rendition of Flower of Scotland. "It was well executed and, to be honest, it's more of a relief rather than anything."
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'I don't usually feel expectation, but that one I did'
Scott didn't look to be carrying the baggage of expectation when he sauntered out of the call room a little after 19:00 BST, grinning and taking in the splendour of the scenes around him.
But the anticipation of success was there. There among the clammy crowd. There among Team Scotland. And even there among his rivals. After all, he is his country's most decorated Games athlete.
"Duncan had an incredible front end to that race," an upbeat Dean - who moved up to Stirling last year and has struggled badly with injury - told BBC Sport afterwards. "I train with him every day. I know what he does."
Knowing it and doing something about it are different things, though.
Evan Jones gave it a go early on from lane one - touching the wall a fraction in front of his Scotland team-mate after the fly - but then Scott uncorked the good stuff.
His backstroke put him ahead. His breaststroke moved him clear. And he turned for home knowing a fourth Games gold was his.
Dean - who recovered from seventh at halfway - and New Zealand's Lewis Clareburt probably knew it too, but they grafted gamely to keep Scott honest all the way to the wall.
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Figure caption,'The noise was exceptional'
Scott was not being caught, though. Not tonight. Not here. Not with his Scotland kit on and his team looking to him to spark their Games.
A Games which he has backed vocally since Glasgow salvaged it from the wreckage of Victoria's aborted bid.
Almost exactly 12 years after he won his first Commonwealth medal in this very building, he was taking his 14th in his fourth Games. And it was going to be gold.
"I don't usually feel the expectation, but that one I probably did," he told BBC Sport Scotland. "Simply because it's day one and I love representing Scotland and you want to try and get the whole team off to a good start.
"I think there was a bigger picture of trying to get good momentum for the crowd involvement for the rest of the week, and the team as well. So I felt that expectation, but it's nothing I couldn't deal with."
You got the sense there was little that could have discomfited the Alloa native - a momentary loss of his accreditation apart - and even a post-race visit to the drugs testers wasn't going to trouble him.
Scott's got the weekend off now - he's an old boy among the swimming set, after all - but he's more than done his bit to set Glasgow 2026 off on the right note.
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