Thomas Young celebrated a birthday to savour by scorching to Commonwealth gold.
The Tokyo Paralympic champion, who turned 25 today, grabbed T38 100m glory with a dominant display in Glasgow.
Young stopped the clock in a season’s best 11.11 to beat Australian Ullrich Muller and Canadian Zachary Gingras to gold on a speedy Scotstoun track.
The Loughborough star was forced to withdrew from the Games in Birmingham four years ago after suffering bone and ligament damage.
But he resiliently bounced back in style and was relishing the prospect of celebrating a special day in Scotland.
Asked if this was his best birthday ever, he said: “It probably is!
“It was really tough to pull out of Birmingham, so to deal with that and then bouncing back was a really long road.
“I have a brilliant support team that made that all possible.
“The crowd were so supportive of everyone tonight, and it was amazing that Scotland came in and really helped the athletes out.
“It's an unreal feeling – the Commonwealth Games are like a mini Paralympic Games and hopefully this can happen for many more years to come.”
“I’m eyeing up my birthday cake when I get back to the hotel now!”
Sophie Hahn bounced back from a difficult couple of years to also scorch to T38 100m glory and lead home a British one-two-three.
The two-time Paralympic champion, 29, has struggled since Tokyo 2020 but claimed her first Commonwealth title since 2018 ahead of Wales’ Olivia Breen and English compatriot Maddie Down.
Hahn, who races again in the 200m later this week, said: “The crowd really got behind me and I just felt that I had to focus.
“This is very special – it’s been a long time since I last won a Commonwealth Games back in 2018.
“This means a lot to come here in a home Games and to win.”
Down, who will now turn her attention to the long jump, said: “I feel amazing – I came in wanting to get a medal but then in the race I wasn’t quite sure.
“But to come away with a PB and a record is great.
“Training’s been going really well and I’ve been running really quick – getting a medal was always in the back of my mind but being able to make it an actual possibility has been great.
“It’s really special – I started with England at the Commonwealth Youth Games and got medals there, so to be able to step onto the senior stage and get them here is a full circle moment.”
And there were also medals for hurdler Sam Bennett and high jumper Kimani Jack, who claimed silver and bronze late in the evening.
Bennett finished second behind Jamaican Demario Prince in his 110m hurdles event while Jack was third after clearing a height of 2.20m.
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