ONE is a slim, blonde, former Miss Scotland entrant from Edinburgh and the other a genial giant of an IT consultant from Glasgow.
But Jayne Nisbet and Angus McInroy were both outstanding in their respective fields at Hampden yesterday morning.
While the former, a personal trainer who was also the first Scottish woman to jump over 13 metres in the triple jump, was leaping to within one centimetre of her personal best of 1.86m to reach today's high jump final, McInroy was channelling some choice words from his English rival Carl Myerscough to produce a season's best of 57.28m with his last throw of the discus competition. That advice was to zone out from the enthusiastic support of the sell-out Hampden crowd and it paid off with an almighty effort which extended McInroy's own Scottish record and took him through to tonight's final.
It may be unrealistic to expect a medal from either, but both fully merited the acclaim they received. Certainly few Scottish athletes would have treasured the moment more than McInroy, whose frequent travels with his work often necessitate ad hoc training arrangements, including one in a field near London which is surrounded by sheep and alpacas.
"It was an odd experience, throwing amongst sheep and alpacas and cows," said McInroy, whose countryman Nick Percy threw 56.71m and failed to qualify. "This field is definitely a lot cleaner. There are no cow pats on it.
"The crowd are amazing and you feel so much adrenaline to try and do it. But just before my last throw big Carl, the 6ft 10in, 28-stone Englishman came up to me and went 'you've just got to relax on this one'. He's the biggest man around. I wasn't going to argue with Carl no matter how many people were in the stands."
Nisbet, whose mother and father are both officiating at the Games and whose partner James Campbell throws in the javelin on Friday, has been treated to one impromptu lap of honour already. She spent nigh on 10 minutes being stopped and glad-handed by well wishers as she left the stadium, going off yesterday while dreaming of breaking Jayne Barnetson's 25-year-old Scottish record of 1.91m. That is precisely the kind of leap she would require to find herself in medal contention here.
First, though, was the small matter of phoning her brother John to check whether her pet tortoises Fred and Pebbles had procreated yet. In what may be the most eagerly-awaited mating experiment this side of the Edinburgh Zoo pandas, Pebbles is pregnant and liable to produce around 30 eggs any time now. "I knew I had it in me to jump like that," said Nisbet, the sole remaining Scot in the reckoning after Emma Nuttall and Rachael McKenzie were unable to qualify.
If Laura Muir's decision to opt out of the 800m disappointed the Hampden crowd - it was only a 14-hour turnaround from the tumult of Tuesday night, while the European Championships loom on the horizon - there was at least partial consolation to be found in the form of Emily Dudgeon.
The 21-year-old medical student from Gullane, who is rooming with Nisbet, ran a fine season's best - just three seconds outside her personal best - to join Lynsey Sharp in today's semi-finals.
Less successful in their qualifying attempts were Scottish pair Sarah Warnock and Jade Nimmo in the long jump. The former, from Prestonpans, jumped a season's best of 6.22m and the latter, from Falkirk, reached 6.23m, but neither made today's final.
In the absence of Scots, Michael Mathieu of Bahamas qualified fastest for today's 200m finals, while Cornel Fredericks of South Africa was top of the list in the 400m hurdles.
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