Australia’s Jenna Forrester won two medals in 45 minutes and South Africa’s Chad le Clos put himself in the record books on the first day of the swimming program at Tollcross International Swimming Centre.
Forrester’s first appearance of the evening came in the 400m freestyle in the first finals session.
Her Australian teammate Lani Pallister was the only woman to break the four-minute barrier, winning her first Commonwealth crown in three minutes 59.56 seconds, 36 years after her mother Janelle won bronze in Auckland 1990.
Erica Fairweather (NZ) finished second to claim her first medal of the Games in 4:02.65, while Forrester took bronze in 4:05.25.
Forrester (pictured) returned just over 40 minutes later for the 200m backstroke, where she came from fourth position on the final turn to sweep the field to take the title in 2:08.17.
Scotland’s Katie Shanahan upgraded her Birmingham 2022 bronze to silver in 2:08.54, while Hannah Fredericks took bronze for Australia in 2:09.02.
“Honestly, I’m really tired right now, but my adrenaline is pumping,” Forrester said.
“These results were absolutely amazing. I have my entire support team at home to thank for that. They definitely worked as hard as I did to get me here, so I can’t thank them enough.”
Le Clos led the South African men’s 4x100m freestyle relay team to bronze and won their 19th Commonwealth Games medal, the biggest achievement by a male athlete.
The South African won his first Games medal in Delhi in 2010 and 16 years later ensured he would be on the podium for a fifth consecutive Games.
“I’ll try not to cry here, but this is a big moment for me,” he said.
“I am grateful to the guys. It’s been a tough two years, a tough four years since those incidents in Birmingham. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a big moment for me and my family, so I’m very grateful.”
Home favorite Duncan Scott arrived in Glasgow as the reigning 200m individual medley champion.
The Scotland athlete, who had won silver at the last two Olympics, advanced at the halfway point – a lead he never relinquished – to come home to win in 1:56.38. In doing so, he broke his game record by 0.50 seconds.
Lewis Clerbert set a New Zealand record of 1:56.77 to take silver, while England’s Tom Dean took bronze in 1:57.22.
It was Scott’s fourth title among 14 Commonwealth medals since he made his senior debut in Glasgow in 2014.
In the run-up to the Home Games, the hopes of the entire nation rested on his shoulders, but he pulled through.
“As the situation began to escalate, the weight of expectations began to grow,” he said.
“It was probably one of those things that was more of a relief than anything else, but I’m actually pretty happy with how I executed it.
“I wanted to work on my back and give myself a chance to get to 150, which I did. It’s one of the fastest times I’ve ever gotten to 100, so it’s all going in the right direction. But more than anything, it was a relief.”
Australia won the women’s and men’s 4x100m freestyle relay. The women’s quartet took the title in 3:31.40, ahead of England, while South Africa set an African record of 3:38.67 to finish third.
The Australian men were also dominant, winning in a Games record 3:09.49 ahead of England and South Africa.
In Paralympic swimming, Jenna Jones of Australia won the women’s 100m freestyle S13 in 1:03.89, while Nathan Hendricks of South Africa won the men’s equivalent in 54.54.
Scotland’s Fay Rogers dominated the SM10 women’s 200m individual medley in 2:29.61, while Alex Saffi won the S10 men’s 100m butterfly in 57.11.
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