Team Scotland
Close flyout

After a year’s delay due to the pandemic, the 16th Paralympic Games got underway today in Tokyo with a spectacular opening ceremony and a commemorative flight over Tokyo by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force’s Blue Impulse aerobatic flight team.

Tokyo is the first city to stage two Paralympic Games, having hosted the 1964 edition, and Games organisers are hopeful the Games can help make Japanese society more inclusive, alongside the sporting spectacle of top-class competition. That action begins tomorrow with several Scots beginning their campaigns as part of ParalympicsGB.

Wheelchair Basketball

Robyn Love and Jude Hamer are part of the ParalympicsGB Wheelchair Basketball squad set to take on Canada in their opening game of Group A. It is a third Paralympics for Jude and a second for Robyn, and the side will be on the hunt for medals after a fourth place finish in Rio.

Swimming

Toni Shaw makes her Paralympic Games debut on Wednesday and will be looking to recapture the form that saw her win six medals at the 2019 World Championships. The 18 year old begins her Games with the heats of the Women’s S9 400m Freestyle (01:13) with the final scheduled for 09:10.

Cycling

Neil Fachie will be looking to add to his gold and silver from London 2012 and silver from Rio 2016 as he lines up in the B 4000m Individual Pursuit on Wednesday with pilot Matt Rotherham. Double gold medallists for Team Scotland at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, the pair are drawn in Heat 2 alongside Ghana’s Frederick Assor and Rudolf Mensah. There is further Scottish interest in this event with Lewis Stewart piloting James Ball in Heat 1 where they face Kai Kristian Kruse and Robert Foestemann of Germany. Qualifying begins at 03:52 with athletes aiming for the bronze (06:50) and gold (06:57) medal races later in the day.

The delayed 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games begins on Tuesday, with 33 Scots travelling as part of the Paralympics GB team.

The Scottish contingent will make up 14.5% of the GB team in Tokyo, a higher proportion than at either Rio 2016 or London 2012, with just over a quarter of athletes making their Paralympic Games debut.

Athletics boasts the highest Scottish representation with nine, including three past Team Scotland athletes: Libby Clegg – Glasgow 2014 gold medallist and Paralympic Champion over 100m and 200m at Rio 2016, Maria Lyle – silver medallist at Gold Coast 2018 and double bronze medallist from Rio, and Samantha Kinghorn, twice a Commonwealth Games athlete and a double World Champion from 2017, who will be targeting her first Paralympic medals.

Also among the nine are defending Paralympic champion in the F51 Club Throw, Jo Butterfield, and long jumper Stef Reid, a silver medallist five years ago.

Cycling sees Neil Fachie and Aileen McGlynn selected as part of a five-strong Scottish contingent, both competing at their fourth Paralympic Games. Neil has a gold and two silver from previous Paralympic Games and is also Team Scotland’s most successful para-sport athlete of all-time with four Commonwealth Games gold medals. Aileen took two silver medals for Scotland at Glasgow 2014 and has an outstanding Paralympic Games record with three gold, two silver and a bronze.

In swimming, six Scots will take to the pool including Toni Shaw, Team Scotland’s youngest athlete at Gold Coast 2018 at just 14 years old. Three years on she will be in the hunt for podium places after winning six medals at her debut World Para Swimming Championships in 2019.

Scott Quin and Andrew Mullen return to the team having won medals at Rio 2016, while Stephen Clegg, brother of sprinter Libby, has followed his first global medal, a silver at the 2019 World Championships, with a World Record in the S12 100m Butterfly this year.

Powerlifter Micky Yule competes at his second Paralympic Games after a sixth place finish in Rio and two fourth place finishes for Team Scotland at the Commonwealth Games.

Robyn Love and Jude Hamer are included in the Wheelchair Basketball team, ahead of the sport making its Commonwealth Games debut in Birmingham next year.

Defending champion in both Wheelchair Singles and Doubles, Gordon Reid takes to the tennis court at his fourth Games, while Rio 2016 silver medallist Alison Peasgood will also be aiming to be back in the medals in the PTVI Triathlon.

Former Boccia world champion Stephen McGuire goes in his third Games, having just missed out on the medal matches in Rio and London, with brothers Jamie and Scott McCowan, assisted by mum Linda and dad Gary, competing in their second.

Archer Nathan Macqueen will look to be on target at his second Games, as will shooter Lesley Stewart as she makes her Paralympic debut.

The full Scots contingent can be found below.

Archery

Nathan Macqueen

Athletics

Jo Butterfield, Libby Clegg, Samantha Kinghorn, Maria Lyle, Owen Miller, Derek Rae, Stef Reid, Ben Rowlings, Melanie Woods

Wheelchair Basketball

Robyn Love, Jude Hamer

Boccia

Stephen McGuire, Jamie McCowan, Scott McCowan, Gary McCowan (assistant), Linda McCowan (assistant)

Cycling

Finlay Graham, Neil Fachie, Aileen McGlynn, Jenny Holl (pilot), Lewis Stewart (pilot)

Powerlifting

Micky Yule

Shooting

Lesley Stewart

Swimming

Stephen Clegg, Lewis Lawlor, Conner Morrison, Andrew Mullen, Scott Quin, Toni Shaw

Wheelchair Tennis

Gordon Reid

Triathlon

Alison Peasgood, Hazel MacLeod (guide)

With plenty of Scots in sporting action across the globe over the weekend here’s our round up of just some of the highlights:

Athletics

The Scottish Athletics Senior National Championships at Grangemouth saw Kirsty Law claim her 13th Scottish title in the discus, her tenth in a row, with a winning throw of 56.26m, having recently extended her personal best to 59.95 – well in excess of the qualifying standard for Birmingham 2022. In the men’s discus Nick Percy was a little disappointed by his best of 59.47m, having thrown over 60m multiple times this season, but was happy to walk away with the Scottish title.

David Smith was in excellent form in the high jump, clearing the 2.23m Birmingham 2022 qualifying standard at the first time of asking, before going on to have three close attempts at a new PB height of 2.27m. Hammer thrower Chris Bennett, a finalist at Gold Coast 2018, was also over the Birmingham standard as he won with a throw of 70.88m.

Bera Ajala leapt out to 15.89m in the triple jump to win his first senior national title and break the Scottish Junior record that had stood to Craig Duncan since 1983, while Alessandro Schenini added 17cm to his personal best to take the long jump title with 7.76m, just 10cm shy of a Commonwealth Games qualifying mark.

Schenini was one of a number of young athletes stepping up to take senior titles following appearances for Team Scotland at the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2015 and 2017. Ben Greenwood and Olivia Vareille took the men’s and women’s 800m crowns, while Carys McAulay, a medallist in the 800m at Samoa 2015, took gold over 400m.

Gavin Drysdale was very close to his own World record mark as he clocked 16.27 in the RR2 100m and returned the following day to add gold in the Mixed RR 400m with a championship best of 74.06.

Cycling

Phoebe Gale stormed to victory in the third round of UCI Downhill Mountain Bike World Cup in Maribor, Slovenia, taking gold in the Junior Women’s event ahead of Izabela Yankova of Bulgaria and Aina Gonzalez of Spain. Fellow Scot Bethany McCully finished in 12th place. Gale’s win came on the back of gold at both the Les Gets World Cup and UK National Championships in July.

Mikayla Parton was 14th in the Elite Women’s race, with William Brodie 19th in the Junior Men and Reece Wilson finishing 21st in the Elite Men.

Fresh from representing Team GB at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Anna Shackley was back on the road to take 13th place at the Ladies Tour of Norway, just 1 min 40 behind winner Annemiek van Vlueten.

Hockey

Scotland’s men opened their Men’s EuroHockey Championships II campaign with a 4-4 draw with Ukraine as the event got underway in Gniezno, Poland.

Scotland took the lead through Andrew McConnell as he struck home from a penalty corner, and the side looked well in control as two more goals in quick succession from Alan Forsyth and Rob Harwood made it 3-0.

Ukraine pulled one back early in the second half and, despite Scotland almost adding to their tally in a penalty corner goal-mouth scramble, it was Ukraine who struck next to make it 3-2. In the final quarter, Cammy Golden restored a two-goal cushion for the Scots and nearly struck again moments later, but his diving flick went just wide of the mark. A dramatic finish saw two Ukrainian goals in 30 seconds to level the match for a final score of 4-4.

Scotland’s next match is against Austria tonight (Monday 16 Aug) at 18:00 UK time. All matches are being streamed on eurohockeytv.org

Triathlon

Team Scotland Glasgow 2014 and Gold Coast 2018 athlete Grant Sheldon was in action at the Montreal leg of the World Triathlon Championship Series, taking place in a super-sprint format for the first time. Following a less than ideal preparation after his handlebars snapped in warm-up, he just missed out on a place in the final after finishing 11th in the qualifying round, with the top ten progressing. While the result was not what he was looking for he was upbeat with the positives he could take as he prepares to compete in Edmonton this week.

Another day, another medal for our Scots in Tokyo as we reach the conclusion of the Olympic Games.

Josh Kerr produced a fantastic run in the 1500m Final, securing a bronze medal with personal best time of 3:29.05. The 23-year-old chose to bide his time, hanging off the front runners before coming through strongly over the final 250 metres, just missing out on a second-place finish by 0.04 seconds.

He moves up to second in the all-time British list for that distance, ahead of Seb Coe and Steve Cram with only Mo Farah posting a quicker time.

Jake Wightman finished 10th, starting strongly but fading towards the end with a time of 3:34.43.

“This has been a hard championship for me with the first round not going great,” said Kerr, who finished seventh in his first-round heat and only qualified via the fastest loser spot.

“When the first medal came back to our GB camp with Keely Hodgkinson, I had to take myself away and say I want to create that for myself. I wanted to be the one everyone looks at.

Elsewhere Nicole Yeargin finished strongly for Team GB in the 4x400m Relay, finishing fifth overall.

Eilish McColgan finished in ninth place in the 10,000m Final.

In the Women’s Marathon Stephanie Davis finished 39th and Steph Twell 68th after a gruelling run in the sweltering Sapporo heat. Callum Hawkins is involved in the Men’s Marathon on Saturday evening (from 23:00).

In the cycling it was a dramatic morning for Jack Carlin, who progressed to the Quarter-Final of the Keirin. The result was in doubt after Canada’s Hugo Barrette went down after clipping Carlin, but the Scot was cleared of any wrongdoing.

The Keirin concludes on Sunday, with Carlin back in action from 02:24.

 

Katie Archibald became a double Olympic champion amid a flood of medals for the Scots on Team GB, as Laura Muir, Jack Carlin and Sarah Robertson also hit the podium.

Katie Archibald took her second medal of Tokyo 2020, combining with Laura Kenney in an absolutely dominant display as the Madison made its Olympic debut. The pair were unstoppable, winning 10 of the 12 sprints during the 120 lap race, including the final dash with double points on offer. They also took a lap on the rest of the field to build an unbeatable total score of 78 points to take gold.

The duo not only made history as the first women’s Madison Olympic champions but Archibald is now a double Olympic champion, adding to her Team Pursuit gold in Rio, and Kenny becomes the first British woman to win golds at three consecutive Olympic Games.

“I’ve never wanted something so much and I’ve never been so nervous,” said Archibald. “We’ve been really clinical in our approach to this, none of this would have happened without Monica [Greenwood]. We had a change of coach last year, totally overhauled our entire approach to this event.

“I feel like we’re going after the all-round at this track Olympics spreading between Madison and omnium and it feels so satisfying for it to come off.”

The success continued in the velodrome as Jack Carlin took Sprint bronze at his first Olympics, also his second medal in Tokyo after Team Sprint silver. Having missed out to Dutch world champion Harrie Lavreysen in the semi-finals, Carlin faced Denis Dmitriev of the Russian Olympic Committee in the battle for bronze and dominated proceedings to win 2-0.

“It was a tough day today, I didn’t have the same in the legs as I did yesterday but I gave it my all and managed to come away with something,” he said. “I got 20th at the Worlds last year and I said to myself that I’d never be in that place again. We focused a lot on the individual event in this extra year and it paid off.”

He now turns his attention to the Keirin and, on his chance of winning gold, silver and bronze at Tokyo 2020, Carlin said: “What was it that Jonny Brownlee said? ‘Completed it mate’. We’ll see…”

Over at the Olympic Stadium Laura Muir won a brilliant silver in the 1500m, putting the agony of finishing fifth, fourth and fifth over 1500m at the last three World Championships and seventh at the Rio Games five years ago behind her. She did it in some style too with a new British and Scottish record of 3:54.50, powering past 5000m champion Sifan Hassan in the closing stages in a race won by defending champion Faith Kipyegon in a new Olympic record.

Elsewhere Andrew Butchart ran a season’s best, finishing 11th in a fiercely contested 5000m final.

The medal rush had begun in the early hours of Friday morning with Sarah Robertson scoring in a 4-3 bronze medal match thriller with India. India led 3-2 at the halfway point but Team GB rallied strongly, levelling the score through captain Hollie Pearne-Webb, before a penalty corner conversion from Grace Balsdon secured their place on the podium for a third Games in a row.

As we continue to spotlight the Scots on Team GB who may also feature for Team Scotland in a year’s time at Birmingham 2022, Day 13 was a day of ensuring qualification for finals. It sets up a day full of action tomorrow with medal chances in Athletics, Cycling and Hockey.

Athletics

Jake Wightman and Josh Kerr put in impressive runs in the semi-finals of the Men’s 1500m, Wightman winning semi-final 1 in 3:33.48 and Kerr also securing automatic progression to the final with a run of 3.32.18 for third in semi-final 2. They will be joined in Saturday’s final (12:40) by GB team mate Jake Hayward.

The heats of the Women’s 4x400m featured Zoey Clark on second leg and Nicole Yeargin on the final leg as Team GB came out on top in a fierce battle to the line. The quartet, completed by Emily Diamond and Laviai Neilsen, took third place in 3:23.99, just two hundredths ahead of a national record from the Netherlands, to secure an automatic place for Saturday’s final (13:30).

Friday sees Scottish interest in two finals in quick succession with Andrew Butchart first up in the Men’s 5000m (13:00) before Laura Muir races for a medal in the Women’s 1500m (13:50).

Cycling

Jack Carlin continued his fantastic form in the Men’s Sprint as he cruised through the 1/8 finals and quarter-finals on Thursday morning. Friday sees him go up against Harrie Lavreysen of the Netherlands in the semi-finals (08:10) for a place in the gold medal final later in the morning (10:00).

Friday also sees Katie Archibald go in the Madison final (09:10) with team mate Laura Kenny, both part of a silver medal winning performance in the Team Pursuit earlier in the week.

Hockey

Sarah Robertson and the Team GB Women’s Hockey team will be competing for a medal on Friday (02:30) as they take on India in the bronze medal match.

It was a relatively quiet day for our Scots in Team GB on Day 12, with progression on the athletics and cycling tracks. We spotlight the efforts of some of the athletes who may feature for Team Scotland at Birmingham 2022…

 Athletics

Laura Muir eased through her 1500m Semi-Final, finishing second with a time of 4:00.73. She’ll be racing for a medal in Friday’s final (13:50).

It will be the turn of the men in Thursday’s 1500m Semi-Final, with both Jake Wightman (12:00) and Josh Kerr in action (12:10).

Elsewhere the Women’s 4x400m Relay heats also take place on Thursday, with Team GB in heat two (11:37). Nicole Yeargin will be hoping to feature, with the first three in each heat and next two fastest across both heats qualifying for Saturday’s final.

Cycling

Jack Carlin was in impressive form in the Men’s Sprint, finishing third fastest in the Qualifying Round before winning his last 32 head-to-head with Australian Nathan Hart. He’ll be back in action in the 1/8 Finals on Thursday morning (07:54), with the Quarter Final later that morning (from 08:45).

Hockey

It was disappointment for Sarah Robertson and the Team GB Women’s Hockey team, who lost out 5-1 to Netherlands in the Semi-Final. They will be competing for a bronze medal on Friday (02:30).

 

Three Scots collected Olympic medals on a drama-filled day in the velodrome as Team GB kicked off their Track Cycling medal tally with silver in both Women’s Team Pursuit and Men’s Team Sprint.

Katie Archibald, gold medallist in this event at Rio 2016, and Gold Coast silver medallist Neah Evans were the Scots in action in the Women’s Team Pursuit, riding superbly with Laura Kenny and Josie Knight to break the world record in their first round heat with a time of 4:06.748.

Germany, however, regained the world record they had set on Monday in the very next heat, setting up an exciting gold medal ride against the British. The final saw the British quartet get out strong, but after the first lap Germany started to pull away, obliterating their own world record to win gold with a time of 4:04.249.

While silver for Evans in her first Olympic Games is an outstanding achievement, she is already looking to the future and a chance to return the title to British hands. “It’s really special to be here,” she said. “We’re defending champions, there’s big expectation for British cycling because we do have such a strong reputation, but there are so many strong nations that came out fighting. It wasn’t to be this time, but we’ll be back in Paris.”

In the Men’s Team Sprint, Jack Carlin, who took Individual Sprint silver for Team Scotland in Gold Coast, rode brilliantly with Ryan Owens and Jason Kenny to set a new Olympic record of 41.829 in the first round, a mark that was subsequently bettered by a strong Dutch trio.

The final saw Team GB take on the Netherlands in a repeat of the 2020 World Championships, and the finishing positions were also repeated as the Dutch lowered the Olympic record yet again with 41.369 to take gold.

There was consolation for Jason Kenny however as, with that silver, he joined Sir Bradley Wiggins with eight Olympic career medals – the most ever by a British athlete.

“We came for more but I think we can be proud of ourselves,” said Carlin. “We broke the Olympic record at one point, the Dutch again took it off us. We are happy, we just want more.”

There was also silver for another Scot, this time in Sailing, as Anna Burnet partnered John Gimson to a podium place in the Mixed Nacra 17 class. Partners on and off the water, the pair finished fifth in their final race, which was enough to secure silver following a string of outstanding results across the previous 12 races, including three first place finishes.

“It’s amazing,” she said. “I’m so happy we’re part of this team, which is performing so well. I feel like John’s someone who’s the most deserving of an Olympic medal. He’s put so much work into this for so long. To help him achieve that, I’m just so happy.”

Silver medals in the velodrome for Katie Archibald, Neah Evans and Jack Carlin, plus Sailing silver from Anna Burnet, were the highlights of Day 11 in Tokyo. We round up the rest of the action for the Scots on Team GB and look ahead to what to watch on Wednesday.

Aquatics

James Heatly completed an impressive Olympic debut taking ninth in the 3m Springboard final after fourth place in both qualifying and the semi-final. His best dive in the final came in the fifth round, scoring 85.50 with a Forward 4½ Somersaults Tuck.

Athletics

Jemma Reekie came so close to a medal in the 800m, setting a new personal best of 1:56.90 for fourth in an incredibly fast final that saw the USA’s national record fall to gold medallist Athing Mu and Kelly Holmes’s British record go to silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson. Tactically Reekie did everything right, positioning herself well into the home straight but couldn’t hold off a fast-finishing Raevyn Rogers of the USA in the battle for bronze.

Jake Wightman and Josh Kerr both progressed to the 1500m semi-finals, with Team GB team mate Jake Hayward also through. With the top six in each heat qualifying automatically, Wightman comfortably secured his place by taking third in Heat 2 in a time of 3:41.18. Kerr had a nervous wait after being pipped on the line for sixth in Heat 1 but his time of 3:36.29 was more than good enough, going through as the fastest of the non-automatic qualifiers. The semi-finals take place on Thursday (12:00).

Andrew Butchart is into Friday’s 5000m final, through as the second fastest non-automatic qualifier after a 7th place finish in the faster of the two heats.

Nicole Yeargin looked to have qualified for the 400m semi-finals comfortably, crossing the line third in her heat, but there was heartbreak following a disqualification for putting foot on the line around the bend.

Following a comfortable qualification on Monday, Laura Muir goes in the 1500m semi-finals on Wednesday morning (11:00).

Cycling

Having taken silver in the Team Sprint alongside Jason Kenny and Ryan Owens, Jack Carlin is back in action in the Individual Sprint with qualifying taking place at 07:30 on Wednesday morning.

Hockey

After coming through a tense shootout against Spain on Monday, Sarah Robertson will look to make an impact for Team GB as they face the Netherlands in the semi-finals on Wednesday in a re-run of the Rio 2016 final. (02:30)

It was a successful Day 10 in Tokyo for Team GB’s Scots as we kick off week two – we catch-up on what’s been happening and what lies ahead.

Aquatics

James Heatly made an impressive start to his Olympic bid, finishing fourth overall and qualifying for Tuesday’s semi-final (02:00). The final takes place later on Tuesday (from 07:00).

Athletics

Laura Muir comfortably progressed to Wednesday’s 1500m semi-final, with a second-place finish and a time of four minutes 3.89 seconds.

Beth Dobbin was second in her 200m heat with a time of 22.78 seconds, before a fifth-placed finish in the semi-final saw her miss out on a place in the final.

Tuesday is a busy day on the track, with 1500m runners Jake Wightman (01:16), Josh Kerr (01:05) and 5000m runner Andrew Butchart (12:16) making their first Tokyo appearances.

Nicole Yeargin is in Heat Four of the 400m (02:09), having featured in the final of the 4x400m mixed relay final for Team GB on Saturday.

But all eyes will be on the 800m final (13:25), with Jemma Reekie one of three Team GB athletes in the eight-strong field.

Cycling

Katie Archibald was part of the women’s team pursuit who were the second fastest qualifiers with a new British record of 4:07.307. That time was almost three seconds quicker than their medal-winning performance at Rio 2016, but was bettered by Germany, who set a new world record. They will face USA in the next round on Tuesday morning (07:37) for a place in the final, with Neah Evans also available for selection.

The men’s team sprint is also scheduled for Tuesday, with qualifying from 07:58. Jack Carlin is part of the team aiming for success there, with heats and finals also on Tuesday.

Hockey

Team GB won a tense shootout against Spain on Monday, with Sarah Robertson in action. They’ll face the Netherlands on Wednesday in a re-run of the Rio 2016 final.

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