Sunday 31st July will go down in history for Team Scotland, as the cycling team won more medals in a single day at the velodrome than ever before.

After a brace of medals the previous two days, they upped the ante with a five medal haul on Sunday, on a day filled with drama. 

Neah Evans upgraded the bronze she won on Saturday night to silver on Sunday, matching the pair of medals she won on the Gold Coast four years ago. Bronze in this race at the last Commonwealth Games, she made extremely hard work of an extremely attritional Points Race, often finding herself on the front shutting down the moves, before going on the offensive herself. 

Eventually she managed to make it into a move that saw good cooperation, and after a lot of hard turns on the front, they gained a lap, which all but decided the medals – what colour they would be was still up for grabs. Georgia Baker on Australia proved to be the quickest, mopping or more sprint points than the rest to take gold, with Neah leading out the final sprint to the line, worth double points, to secure silver, a herculean effort. 

Delighted, she said afterwards: 

“That was hard work; normally the individual pursuit is much harder than the points race, but that points race just went on and on! There was a lot of time when I was just on the front going ‘what am I doing’ – it really was a points race like no other.” 

On winning more medals, she added: 

“I’m delighted with this but I’d really like to be speaking to you again tomorrow! I’ll go out and race as hard as I can and hope that I’ve got enough on the day.”

The penultimate race of the evening was the decided in the Men’s Sprint Bronze medal match, where Jack Carlin was vying to add to the silver he won in the Keirin on Saturday.

Having looked on scintillating form this morning, he couldn’t quite do enough to make into the battle for gold, so adjusted his focus to go for bronze. 

Winning the first race, where he came flying over the top of his Aussie rival Matthew Glaetzer, he would be pegged back in the second, so it went to a decider. Later admitting he was running on fumes, Carlin but up a brave battle but would be beaten across the line. But proceedings weren’t done there, as the commissaires and the fans inside the stadium watched the race back for a potential infringement. 

Some 20 minutes later a final decision was made, Glaetzer relegated for an illegal manoeuvre on the final lap, which saw Carlin win bronze. 

After collecting his medal, an emotional Carlin said: 

“I lost a lot of love for the sport after the Olympics, quite considerably. And it’s not been an easy four or five months, not at all. I almost became a robot when it came to training. 

“But going up to Scotland, training with the Scottish team, I can’t thank Scottish Cycling and the Scottish Institute of Sport enough for the support, for believing me, bringing me back to a point where I enjoy riding my bike and enjoy racing. I feel my mojo is coming back to me. 

“It’s been a hard couple of months but I’m starting to feel like myself again. Riding in front of a home crowd, it didn’t matter that I’m Scottish. They got behind me. I feel like I’ve fallen in love with the sport again.” 

Having made history, himself on Friday with a fifth Commonwealth gold, Neil Fachie added a further medal to his burgeoning collection as he scooped silver in the Men’s Tandem B Sprint alongside Lewis Stewart. 

Having looked great through the rounds, Fachie and Stewart took on their great rivals James Ball and pilot Matt Rotherham, but came up short in straight races, both hard fought all the way to the line. Whilst it wasn’t top spot this time around, they could be proud to push through injury and illness to win gold and silver at these Games. 

Whilst disappointed not to have won gold, Fachie could still be proud of a medal, and he said: 

“This morning started off great, we qualified fastest, and Lewis was riding like a demon. We made our way to the final and we knew that’s where the big battle was going to be. To be honest, warming up for it this afternoon my legs weren’t there, but I didn’t tell Lewis because I hoped the adrenaline would come through and win the day, but it didn’t. I gave it my all and I’m sorry to everyone out there supporting us - to be honest I hold my hands up, that’s my doing, as Lewis was phenomenal and he deserved a gold out there.” 

In the other para event of the night, the Women’s Tandem B 1000m Time Trial, Aileen McGlynn and her pilot Ellie Stone once again delivered when it mattered, adding bronze to the silver they won in the sprint on the opening night. 

It was them versus the clock, and they went for it from the gun, committing 100%. They may have slowed slightly in the closing stages but still posted a great time of 1.07.578, less than half a second away from gold, and only 24 thousandths from a silver to secure another trip to the podium. 

Afterwards, McGlynn commented: 

“I'm surprised that we did so well as we've only been training together for 12 weeks and we've never actually done a full kilometre together, so a huge thanks to Ellie for getting me there!” 

Stone added: 

“It’s been so good to work with Aileen – she’s been so easy to work with, and I’ve learned a lot about racing. I’ve surprised myself and I had to pick up the skills that I thought would’ve taken ages. I’ve always seen people at these events and thought ‘What? Would never do that!’. Well guess I’m doing it now!” 

As if there wasn’t enough drama, the Scratch Race proved to be the final firework in a demonstration that shows exactly how exciting track cycling can be. Contested over 60 laps of the track, the early moves were largely covered before Mark Stewart escaped the bunch with a couple of other riders. They were half a lap in front for some time before being reeled back in, but just a few laps later his teammate John Archibald got off the front, with a Welshman and a Kiwi for company, and it was game on as they extended their lead to half a lap within just a couple of minutes. 

Back in the bunch Australia and England gave chase, but despite strength in numbers, they couldn’t pull it back as Stewart, who sacrificed his own chances for Archibald, and riders from Wales and New Zealand disrupted the chase. 

With around 5km to go in the 15km race they made the junction to the back of the peloton, gaining a lap which would almost certainly mean that trio would take home the three medals – it was just a matter of which colour. 

Again Stewart was selfless, driving the pace hard over the final five laps until he could no more, the high speed given Archibald the best chance in the final two laps, as they feared the others my have better sprints. That would prove the case for winner Corbin Strong from New Zealand, but Archibald mustered every last ounce of energy to secure superb silver medal. 

Afterwards, he said: 

“We were looking for a move to go away - the three of us got away and then the race exploded. If I was to predict which race I’d get a medal in, I was really hoping it would be individual pursuit. But when it didn’t go to plan, I really thought that was my chances gone. So I’m delighted with this.” 

Stewart added: 

"For me it doesn't matter who wins; if it's me, John or Kyle - I like the process, I like getting out there, I like racing and executing the plan. I won it four years ago, it changed nothing - you're still the same person, you don't put your worth on it. That's the last thing you should do - put your worth on a result, you go out there you have fun and if it works great, have a hug and if it doesn't work - have a cry in the shower and get over it!” 

Earlier, the morning session was brought to a premature end as a multi-rider crash saw an English and Manx rider taken to hospital, one of whom went over the barriers and into the crowd; thankfully both are reported to be ok, as are the other riders and spectators who received treatment for their injuries. Unfortunately that meant Kyle Gordon would not take to the start in the final. 

Last but by no means least were our three female sprinters, Lusia Steele, Iona Moir and Lauren Bell, who all produced strong riders in the Women’s 500m Time Trial. Bell topped the billing, sitting in third place after a personal best of 33.954, eventually finishing sixth, whilst the youngest member of the team, Moir, knocked a good half a second off her PB to also finish in the top 10. 

Tomorrow afternoon sees the final races on the velodrome for these Games, with the likes of Evans and Archibald on the hunt for more silverware, whilst Stewart goes into the Points race as defending champion. 

Full results and schedule can be found here