MOUNT Kelly swimmers Matthew Ward, Erin Little and Blythe Kinsman and City of Plymouth athlete Ethan Glyde will all return from the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad and Tobago with gold medals.
Ward has been the star of the show in the swimming pool, winning a record-breaking seven medals for Team Scotland.
He won four golds and three silvers to become the most successful Scottish athlete ever at the event. No other athlete had ever previously won more than five medals at a single games.
His golds came in the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke events and the 200m IM, which he won by more than two seconds on Wednesday night.
He also picked up an individual silver in the 100m freestyle and in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay and the mixed 4x100m medley relay.
GOLD! A FOURTH gold of Trinbago 2023 for Matthew Ward in the 200m IM! 🏴🥇
He's now the first Scottish athlete ever to win six medals at a single Commonwealth Youth Games! #Trinbago2023 pic.twitter.com/HBvJai2Ayc
— Team Scotland (@Team_Scotland) August 9, 2023
“It’s like a dream come true, especially with all the training,” said Ward.
“It’s not easy, it’s not simple but it just makes that training worth it and I couldn’t ask for a better team to be with.
“I came in with an open mind, there’s loads of other countries here with strong competition, so I didn’t really know what to expect.
“I didn’t look at the times I was just going to go for it and see what I could do and hopefully come away with a few medals so I’m really proud of how I’ve been able to do it.”
Commonwealth Youth Games 2023 🇹🇹
A thrilling final day of racing sees Matthew, Blythe and Erin all win gold medals. We are incredibly proud of all eight MK swimmers for their selection and performances at #Trinbago2023
Totals:
🥇 7 Golds
🥈 6 Silvers
🏁 21 Finals#MKFamily pic.twitter.com/5xoTLSxg9L— Mount Kelly Swimming (@MountKellySwim) August 10, 2023
Mount Kelly team-mate Kinsman ended her campaign on a high by helping Team England to gold in the 4x100m mixed medley on Wednesday night.
She had already won an individual silver medal in the women’s 50m backstroke and swam in the heats of England’s gold medal-winning mixed 4x100m freestyle relay.
Team-mate Little was also a relay gold medallist for England.
She helped the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay to glory and also swam in the heats of England’s 4x100m mixed medley’s gold medal-winning team.
She also picked up and individual silver in the women’s 200m freestyle and also a silver in the 4x200m mixed freestyle relay.
Away from the pool, City of Plymouth athlete Glyde took gold in the high jump on Wednesday night.
He has leaped 2.15m this year, which ranks him second in the world under-18 rankings, but he only needed to jump 2.06 to comfortably claim glory at the Commonwealth Youth Games.
Nobody else in the field managed to go higher than 2.00m.
“Throughout the competition I felt great and to come away with a 2.06m is incredible,” he said.
“A lot of blood sweat and tears have been put into this competition and it’s great to come away with the gold after the highs and lows of this year.”