AS dress rehearsals go, Eilidh Child couldn't have asked for better as she stormed to 400m hurdles victory in the Sainsbury's Glasgow Grand Prix at Hampden Park last night.
The 27-year-old Scot clocked a season's best of 54.39 seconds, her second fastest run ever and only 0.17s outside her Scottish record.
Child has become Team Scotland's Commonwealth Games poster girl, her talents receiving high praise in recent days from the two-time Olympic champion Felix Sanchez who described the Kinross-shire athlete as "gritty and tough".
"Obviously I wanted to win but I'm just happy with the way I executed the race," Child said after overcoming a high-calibre Diamond League field. "Hampden felt amazing. I didn't expect such a loud cheerat the start and that's with the stadium not even full.
"None of the big names like [Jamaican] Kaliese Spencer, who has been No.1 in the world this year, were here so I can't rest on that race too much. I'm fairly certain I will have to smash my personal best to win at the Games but I'm happy with the way things are going.
"If I keep running races like that I can't be too disappointed. It showed I'm in great condition. It's not far off my PB and everything is going in the right direction.
Paralympian Stef Reid, who will miss out on the Games because her F44 long jump event is not included, had the consolation of setting a new world record of 5.47m in front of a home crowd. The 29-year-old had hoped to qualify for the able-bodied long jump at Glasgow 2014 but despite making great improvement to post a personal best of 5.45m earlier this season was unable to bridge the gap to the required 6.22m.
Reid, who had her right leg amputated below the knee after a boating accident when she was 16, competes for Scotland on account of a Glaswegian father. Her record- breaking feat earned her a $15,000 Diamond League bonus.
"It is awesome - I landed the jump in the first round so at that point I just wanted to roll around in the sand and celebrate," she said. "I had to be prepared to respond to anything which [France's Marie-Amelie] Le Fur did later in the competition. I'm going to enjoy this for now but get straight back to work because she jumped well today."
In the men's pole vault Jax Thoirs could only manage 5.35m before going out of the event after failing to clear 5.50m. Scots David Smith and Allan Smith jumped 2.22m and 2.15m respectively in the high jump, both falling short of the 2.28m required to secure spots at the European Championships in Zurich next month.
In today's action Laura Muir and Lynsey Sharp will go head-to-head in the 800m for the first time. It promises to be an epic battle with both in blistering form. Muir broke Yvonne Murray's 1987 Scottish record with a time of 4:00.07 in the 1500m in the Paris Diamond League last Saturday, while Sharp ran under two minutes in the 800m in Lausanne two days earlier, posting 1:59.67.
Eilish McColgan, who had a disappointing 13th-place finish in Paris, will be looking to improve on her season's best of 9:50.06 in the 3000m steeplechase if she is be on the plane to Zurich next month.
Having missed out on competing at the British Championships last month, Chris O'Hare will be looking to even the score with his old adversary Charlie Grice in the men's 1500m.
Libby Clegg will be in action n the women's T11-13 100m with Jayne Nisbet set to contest the high jump. All six Scottish athletes are due to compete at the Commonwealth Games.
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