DUNFERMLINE lawn bowler Sarah Jane Ewing has helped Scotland win an historic gold medal at the Commonwealth Games this afternoon.

The 36-year-old, who holds memberships with Headwell and Abbeyview bowling clubs, has been part of the B2 / B3 mixed pairs para bowls team that secured the title against Wales.

Sarah has been part of the team as a director for skip, Robert Barr, who bowled alongside Melanie Inness, and her director, George Miller, in the competition.

In her role, Sarah, whilst not delivering any bowls, offers advice on tactics and shots to play for Robert, with George doing likewise for Melanie.

The B2 / B3 category is for competitors with a visual impairment and, after winning all five of their round-robin section matches, the Scots defeated England last night (Thursday) 21-6.

That set up a gold medal match with Wales, who defeated Australia in the other semi-final, and the Scots came through 16-9.

Sarah and Robert, who teamed-up for the Games on the Gold Coast four years ago, have collected gold having missed out on a medal last time round, despite reaching the semi-final.

The victorious Scottish quartet have also become the first Team Scotland representatives to win gold in the lawn bowls para mixed pairs B2 / B3 at a Commonwealth Games, and has completed a clean sweep of gold medals for Scotland in the para bowls events.

Meanwhile, Pitreavie AAC star Nicole Yeargin will run in the semi-finals of her individual event this evening as she pursues Commonwealth Games glory.

The 24-year-old, who has also had her place at the European Athletics Championships later this month confirmed by British Athletics, made her Team Scotland bow in Birmingham on Wednesday in the 400 metres.

Dunfermline Press:

Nicole Yeargin. Photo: Bobby Gavin / Team Scotland.

Maryland native Nicole is eligible for, and has chosen to represent, Scotland because of her mum, Lynn, who is originally from Dunfermline.

Last year, the University of Southern California graduate, who is currently ranked 17th in the world across the discipline, competed for Team GB at the Tokyo Olympic Games, and did so again last month at the World Athletics Championship, which was held in Oregon, United States.

Following that event, which saw her win a 4x400m relay bronze medal, after reaching the semi-finals of her individual event, she revealed that she had struggled with Covid ahead of arriving in Birmingham for the Games.

That, however, did not prevent her from making the ideal start to her medal bid in round one of the 400m at the Alexander Stadium.

Running in heat two, Nicole made a fine start to her race, in which the first three runners to cross the finish line would automatically qualify for Friday’s semi-finals.

Although she finished behind Canada’s Kyra Constantine and Guyana’s Aliyah Abrams, she finished third in a time of 52.52 seconds to advance.

Speaking afterwards, whilst revealing members of her family were in the crowd to watch, she said that her preparation had been “on and off”, commenting: “I had Covid, coming off the worlds, so I did the best I could, prepared mentally for this race because, physically, it is what it is.

“Obviously, my body is already in good shape.

“I’m already fit, so it was really just trying to get back as fast as I could.

“I was battling Covid last week and I wasn’t able to practice, so I was happy to get out there and blow the rust off.

“I knew, after making the semi-final at the World Championships, I had a chance here to do the same. I just had to complete the race and I did. I was very confident, I did my best, and onto the semis now!”

Nicole has followed in the footsteps of Eilidh Doyle, who announced her retirement from the sport last year, in representing Pitreavie at the Commonwealth Games.

Doyle, who carried the flag for Scotland at the opening ceremony at the Gold Coast four years ago, which she has described as one of her athletics highlights, won 400m hurdles silver medals at Delhi, in 2010; Glasgow, in 2014; and at the Gold Coast.

Nicole will run in the second semi-final of her individual event, which will take place at approximately 7.30pm this evening, with the final set to take place on Sunday – the penultimate day of competition in Birmingham – at 11am.

In addition, Nicole is likely to be called upon to race for Scotland in the women’s 4x400m relay final, which is set to take place on Sunday evening.

Following the conclusion of the action in Birmingham, on Monday, Nicole will join up with the British Athletics squad for the European Athletics Championships.

Last Friday, she was one of 115 athletes selected by UK Athletics to compete at the prestigious meet, which takes place in Munich, Germany, between August 15-21.

She has been picked to run in both the 400m and 4x400m relay, where the Great Britain and Northern Ireland women’s team will aim to replicate their world bronze, and Olympic head coach, Christian Malcolm, said: “After a very successful World Athletics Championships for the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team where we finished as the top European country in the placings table, we are really pleased to be taking such a strong team to Munich and giving a number of athletes a key development opportunity on the major stage.

“Several world medallists and finalists have been selected, while many others have stepped up this summer and are earning their first GB & NI vest on the European stage. This is one of the largest squads we have ever taken to a European Championships, and we are really looking forward to taking on the best on the continent next month.”