IT was a day in which she posted the fastest ride of her career so far, but in the end it was not to be for Katie Archibald as the Scot missed out on a Commonwealth Games bronze medal in the women's 3000m individual pursuit at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow.
The 20-year-old from Milngavie was pipped to a place on the podium by Australia's Amy Cure, losing by a margin of 1.7 seconds. England's Joanna Rowsell won gold in 3:31.615, while Annette Edmondson of Australia took silver.
"It's not perfect," Archibald reflected afterwards. "It isn't nice to feel pleased with fourth because it's basically finishing by losing which isn't a brilliant way to go.
"I knew that at 500m to go I'd lost it. With races to come later in the week, it's really hard to convince yourself to empty your legs when you know you're going to be fourth."
As Archibald prepared to take to the start-line, the final strains of Flower of Scotland had faded away after a deafening roar from the home crowd as Neil Fachie and Craig MacLean were presented with their gold medals in the men's para-sport 1000m time trial B tandem.
Archibald, however, insisted she wasn't fazed by hearing the national anthem ahead of her own race. "It was nice to hear everybody singing and celebrating. It took the edge off it a bit," she said. "I was focusing on my heart-rate which was jumping out of my chest."
While her disappointment was palpable there are many positives to be drawn, not least Archibald seeing off a world-class field which includes her British Cycling stablemates, the Olympic champions Laura Trott and Dani King, to claim a place in the bronze medal ride-off. In qualifying she set a new Scottish record of 3:33.526, smashing her own personal best by a colossal four seconds.
This does not mark the end of the journey for Archibald, who is arguably one of Team Scotland's busiest athletes over the next week given she has four more chances to make her mark on the Games.
She will be back in action today in the women's 10km scratch race, with her favoured event of the 25km points race tomorrow. After that Archibald will turn her attention to the road with the women's time trial on Thursday and the road race a week tomorrow.
Within 15 minutes of finishing, her trademark philosophical verve was back as Archibald prepared to hone her focus ahead of this afternoon's racing.
"I'll take a step back and reflect," she said. "I'm at that age when my times are coming down quite substantially with each race. If it keeps going like this I'll be happy.
"It's about the bigger picture and focusing on the task at hand. I think it will be a sad bowl of spaghetti tonight, a long sleep and then I'll wake up ready to go again."
The past year has seen Archibald add the world and European team pursuit titles to her growing palmares, but this is her moment to shine as an individual. Since women's cycling made its debut in the Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand in 1990, Scotland has never had a female gold medallist on either the track, road or mountain bike trails. There is every chance Archibald could be the first.
There have been two medals on the track for Scottish women to date: Kate Cullen took bronze in the 25km points race in Melbourne eight years ago, while Charline Joiner and Jenny Davis claimed team sprint silver in Delhi.
In the rest of yesterday's action, New Zealand's Sam Webster won the men's sprint with reigning Olympic champion Jason Kenny riding for England second after three thrilling races. Edward Dawkins of New Zealand beat Australian Peter Lewis to finish third.
There was gold for Australia's Jack Bobridge in the men's 4000m individual pursuit, while his compatriot Alex Edmondson followed in the footsteps of his sister Annette to take silver. Marc Ryan of New Zealand took the bronze.
Elsewhere, Anna Turney set a new PB of 3:40.525 in the women's 3000m individual pursuit to place 12th overall while Mark Stewart, the lone Scot contesting the men's 4000m individual pursuit, clocked 4:32.279 to set a new Scottish record and finish 11th in the final rankings.
Today's action will see Fachie and MacLean contest the para-sport men's sprint B tandem, while Charline Joiner and Eileen Roe joins Archibald in the 10km scratch race.
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