Edinburgh diving duo Grace Reid and James Heatly help secure Scottish sporting history with Commonwealth Games gold

Her gold medal in 3m springboard mixed synchronized diving was the 13th achieved by Scotland at the Sandwell Aquatic Centre, beating her previous record at the Commonwealth Games pool set 16 years ago in Melbourne.

Reid and Heatly also added to Scotland’s half-century of podium finishes to secure their 13th and final gold but admitted they felt the pressure.

The partnership with Edinburgh Diving Club won bronze at the last World Championships in Budapest and knew they would be considered the ones to beat in the ten-team final.

First, they set the standard in a hard-fought competition with little room for error, finishing just under two points clear of Australia’s Shixin Li and Madison Keeney.

For Reid, 26, the primary emotion was relief after finishing fourth in the defense of her 1m springboard title off the Gold Coast last week.

“We had some disappointments earlier this week so to end on that note I’m just so happy it’s going to take a while to internalize,” she said.

“I certainly don’t mind sharing this with James. Having him as an anchor point when I was feeling pretty nervous helped me a lot.

“I knew there were expectations of me, there was no escaping that and you had to really embrace it. We really felt the pressure, but sometimes winning feels better when you’ve gotten over a few setbacks.

“Sometimes it’s tough in front of an English crowd, especially when we were following their divers, but the support was amazing. We took on them in the noise and it really makes a difference. It’s a moment in my career that I’ll happily watch again.”

After three fourth-place finishes in recent days, Heatly, 25, admitted the pressure was on.

He had just missed out on medals in the men’s 1m, 3m and synchro events, but always knew the best could be saved until the end.

And with little time to rest, the partnership will now have a day off before jetting off to Rome for the European Championships later this month.

“It’s international sport, it’s about who can handle the pressure but it’s been a tough couple of days,” he admitted.

“Grace and I have a great relationship and winning the bronze medal at the World Championships meant we knew the expectations were there. On paper we were the ones going to win but the Australian wasn’t in Budapest so it was hard to know what to expect from.

“We were just trying to block that out and focus, we were what we were capable of, but you still have to do it.”

Scotland brought a full diving team to Birmingham but the pressure was always on Reid and Heatly who, following their medals four years ago and their worldwide success, had to lead the effort.

However, with Angus Menmuir and Gemma McArthur finishing seventh in the mixed synchro platform final, won by England’s Noah Williams and Andrea Spendolini Sirieix, the signs are pointing to a bright future.

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