Hamilton triathlete Grant Sheldon will take confidence into the European Championships in Munich after producing a strong performance at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Sheldon finished fifth in the individual triathlon on Friday and also helped the team to fifth, Scotland’s best-ever relay finish at the Commonwealth Games, two days later.
That was his third Games, having competed at Gold Coast 2018 where he finished 17th individually and seventh in the mixed team relay, and at Glasgow 2014, finishing 14th and seventh, respectively.
The individual triathlon was won by England’s Alex Yee, ahead of New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde, with Australians Matthew Hauser and Jacob Birtwhistle third and fourth.
England also won the relay, ahead of Wales, Australia and New Zealand.
“To finish fifth, I think I executed pretty much as well as I could have done on the day, so I can’t be upset about that,” he said.
“I was definitely happy with that.
“It’s definitely the best I’ve done in the Commonwealth Games, by a long way, but I haven’t really put it into perspective yet.
“I was able to perform on a day when there’s lots of pressure, and I did finish just behind the best guys in the world.
“When I went into it I set my expectations, and a really good result would be a top-six, and with an absolutely blinding performance maybe I’d sneak onto the podium.
“It has been a tough few years’ racing, with some poor results, and looking at the guys racing, it was definitely one of the best fields there has been at a Commonwealth Games.
“You just look at the first few guys and right now they’re probably the best in the world.”
Sheldon added: “In the past Commonwealth Games Scotland have not performed very well in the relay – we’ve just not got the same depth as the other countries.
“This year we definitely had a strong team going in, and we all performed quite well on Friday.
“We ended up being ranked third, after our results in the individuals and thought maybe there was an outside chance of a podium, but it’s just sometimes the way the cookie crumbles in these events.”
Next up for Grant is the 2022 Europe Triathlon Championships in Munich on August 13 and 14.
He said: “I go into that with a bit of confidence, and from there a few World Cups and World Triathlon Series races will finish off the season.”
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