Six to follow catch-up

The Commonwealth Trials 2014 in Glasgow on Saturday will mark the penultimate qualifying event for the Scottish weightlifting contingent. Black, a nine-times Scottish national champion, will compete having not only achieved her goal to contest the 63kg weight class at the Scottish Open Weightlifting Championships in February, but winning it.

The 24-year-old from Kilmarnock may already have the qualification standard but will be looking to continue to impress ahead of the final team selection on May 28. "Training is going excellent," she says. "I'm feeling fast, strong and extremely motivated every session. I have had two very successful squad camps last month, including great gains - and personal bests - in a range of lifts. My technique has never been so good in my 12 years' training: my strength in squats is outstanding."

Black will also compete at the 2014 British Senior Weightlifting Championships in Coventry on May 10.

SAMantha KINGHORN

She may have arrived home from Dubai in February with more bling than the A-Team's Mr T, but the 18-year-old wheelchair racer has no intention of resting on her laurels. Kinghorn, from the Berwickshire village of Gordon, claimed gold over 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m at the FAZAA International Athletics IPC Grand Prix and bronze in the 1500m, setting PBs in all five events. She followed that up with a clean sweep of five golds at the Sharjah 4th International Open Athletics Meeting.

Having already claimed her spot for Team Scotland in T54 1500m, she is set to compete at the 2014 British Wheelchair Championships at Stoke Mandeville, followed by the ParAthletics IPC Athletics Grand Prix and Daniela Jutzeler Memorial, both in Nottwil, Switzerland, next month.

"Training is going really well, everything is coming together with speed, endurance and gym work," she says. "My goal is just simply to keep training hard and to get good times at Stoke Mandeville and Switzerland."

MICHAEL MALTMAN

Fresh from a successful outing in the Hong Kong 7s, which saw Scotland beat France 31-5 to win the Bowl trophy, Maltman will turn his attention to matters closer to home.

Speaking ahead of yesterday's Melrose 7s, the 23-year-old from East Lothian said he was looking forward to competing at the birthplace of the sport and having the opportunity to "show a bit of flair".

Scotland are set to open their campaign in the Emirates Airline Glasgow 7s against Australia on May 3 with matches against USA and Spain to follow.

"In terms of Commonwealth Games targets the pressure is definitely up," he says. "We have a full-time squad of 19 players and a wider pool of players who are also in contention, it is certainly a big battle for those prized 12 places on the team. Then the real work will begin and I hope to be one of the people there at Glasgow."

LAURA MUIR

With the disappointment of last month's World Indoor Championships in Poland behind her, Muir has spent the past three weeks in a warm-weather training camp in California.

The 20-year-old Glasgow University veterinary student, who has already secured her Team Scotland place over 1500m, enjoyed a strong start to the year, setting a Scottish indoor 800m at the Sainsbury's Glasgow International Match in January. A month later, at the British Athletics Grand Prix in Birmingham, Muir clocked a PB of 4:05.32 over 1500m to place her second on the UK all-time list behind Kelly Holmes.

"California has been great so far," she says. "The weather has been perfect, low 20ÚCs or so, which is ideal for my track sessions and runs. I have one rest day a week. Last week we went to Disneyland which was amazing and this week I'm planning to visit Universal Studios. All, of course, accompanied by plenty of studying."

ROSS MURDOCH

When it came to making his case for a Team Scotland place, Murdoch left nothing to chance. The 2014 Scottish Gas National Open Swimming Championships this month saw him set a British record of 27.28 in the 50m breaststroke, clocking an identical time in both the heats and final.

The 20-year-old from Balfron, Stirlingshire followed that up with victory in the 100m breaststroke and a Scottish record of 59.75 - finishing only two-tenths off Dan Sliwinski's British record - as he beat Olympic silver medallist Michael Jamieson.

He had to settle for second behind Jamieson in the 200m, but Murdoch met the Glasgow 2014 nomination time with aplomb in 2:09.15, shaving three seconds off his PB. "I'm over the moon," he said. "That's three personal bests and three Commonwealth Games times. I'm delighted."

Murdoch is back in action at the 2014 British Gas Swimming Championships in Glasgow this weekend (see Page 13).

JOSH TAYLOR

After victory in the 2014 Boxing Scotland Finals a fortnight ago, Taylor has taken advantage of a brief lull to take stock and recharge his batteries. "I had a few days after the finals to catch up with friends and family," he said. "It was good to just chill out for a bit, but I'm keen to get back to training now."

The East Lothian boxer flew to Portugal with the rest of the Scottish squad last week for a 10-day training camp. The 23-year-old, a silver medallist at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, will find out on April 23 whether his place in Team Scotland has been officially confirmed.

"It's time to start focusing on the hard work," he says. "I'm not looking forward to the tiredness, pain and feeling sore after every training session, but it's got to be done. I'm definitely finding it easy to get motivated. It's all about knuckling down and full speed ahead in the preparation. The remaining 100 days until the Games will fly. It's starting to feel very real now."