Commonwealth Games 2026: Stephen ‘Mariah Cleggy’ channels Messi to swim to gold for Scotland

“My coach said something a bit silly earlier, which was that Leo Messi only shows up for the World Cup, and he meant that my experience allows me to step up for these big moments when all season I’ve been swimming a bit crap.

“He will hopefully agree that I’ve done that tonight.”

And how. Clegg attacked the second 50m of the race with relish and pulled away from his rivals to post a time of 24.73 seconds which was half a second quicker than he’s gone all year.

It also upgraded the silver he won on Birmingham over the distance – achieved when he was not only four years younger, but in much better shape physically.

All that was playing through his mind as he stood on the podium, lip trembling and trying hard to keep his shape, as Flower of Scotland played.

“I was really struggling to keep it together,” said Clegg, who had missed his sister’s wedding amid the preparations for these Games. “Once the anthem started playing, I just started shaking and started to tear up a little bit.

“I’m a very emotional person, but I don’t really let them out very often. And for me to show that emotion kind of, I think, speaks louder than words for me.

“Every time I tried to articulate it, I’ve fallen short of the actual feeling. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I think nothing in my career can really be that moment. Even winning gold at Paris.”