Triple medal success for Evans as Commonwealth Games come to an end
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With final closing ceremony closing out what has been a highly successful Commonwealth Games, Team Scotland’s cyclists have celebrated their Birmingham 2022 campaign with medals in both the Women’s and Men’s Road Races on Sunday, to take their Commonwealth Games tally to 11 medals, more than any other Games.
By the time Finn Crockett, a Commonwealth Games debutant, sprinted to gold on a hot day in Warwickshire, the team had already equalled the 10 medals they won in Gold Coast.
But a succesful Sunday started with the women’s race where Neah Evans became the most decorated Scottish female cyclist at a single Games with three medals,.
Her silver in the road race adding to the silver and bronze medals she won in the Points Race and Individual Pursuit respectively.
In a quiet race it all came down to the sprint, that track rider belying her lack of road race experience to secure a stunning silver.
Scotland went into the race with just two riders instead of the maximum allowed six riders per team and Evans set the tactic was to keep the workload low and cover any moves from the favourites.
She said: "We knew there were a few big, strong teams here, so the plan was to just try and follow any moves and don’t actually do any work.
“Then, if it came to a bunch sprint, we would do what we could (and) wing it.
"It worked pretty well.”
Having has won two silvers and a bronze she added: “I will have to come back in four years as there is one missing that I really want to try and get. "But it has been a brilliant Games for me.”
Neah worked as a veterinary surgeon before becoming a full-time athlete in 2017 and the change to full-time training has paid dividends on both Road and Track.
Making her Commonwealth Games debut at Gold Coast 2018, she was twice on the podium as she won silver in the Scratch Race and bronze in the Points Race, before also putting in a strong performance in the Road events with 8th place in both Time Trial and Road Race.
Since Gold Coast she has come into her own, winning gold in the Team Pursuit at three successive European Championships (2018,2019 and 2020) as well as making it a double gold in 2020 by taking the Individual Pursuit title. 2020 also saw her win silver at the World Championships as part of the Team Pursuit and she makes her Olympic debut in Tokyo.
