James Arnott has done his country proud after celebrating his maiden Commonwealth Games with a silver medal on the Gold Coast.
The sprinter took second place in the T47 100m – his first race at Commonwealth level – to round off his new-found experience in style at the Carrara Stadium.
It took an exceptional run to beat him too, Suwaibidu Galadima of Nigeria stopping the clock fastest in 11.04 seconds with Arnott just behind in 11.30s.
Bronze went to Tevaughn Thomas of Jamaica with Wales’ Morgan Jones left to settle for fourth, three tenths of a second off bronze.
But for Englishman Arnott, this was a day to be celebrated for a long time yet.
“It was surreal experience, all the crowd cheering. It was an amazing feeling. I think I’ve done my country proud.”
“I didn’t know anyone going into the race. I couldn’t worry about other people – it was about my lane,” he said.
“We both came out and gave our best performance and he (Galadima) came out on top.
“I have a few days off now. We’ll see what antics the team wants to get up to.”
