A gold for English pole vaulter Steve Lewis and a silver for Scotland’s European 800m champion Lynsey Sharp brought delight and relief for many reasons on the penultimate night of athletics events at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Lewis beat his English teammate Luke Cutts in a jump off on Friday with the pair both finishing on 5.55m ahead of Canada’s Shawnacy Barber, who took bronze with 5.45m.
It was the first title of Lewis's career and in a season where he is seventh on the European Athletics rankings with 5.70m, he will head to this month’s European Athletics Championships in Zurich determined to make the podium again.
When the bar was raised to 5.60m after they could not be separated - they had both gone over at 5.55m with their first go - they then failed at the new height. Back to 5.55m it went and Lewis cleared it at his second attempt.
After silver in Delhi four years ago and bronze in Melbourne in 2006, he finally had his gold.
As he told British Athletics: 'Getting the set of Commonwealth medals was a big goal – 2006 was such a surprise, I got close in Delhi and just to have the set is amazing.'
Sharp took silver after a traumatic time as her preparations for the race were overtaken by illness which saw her end up on a drip.
But she came through in some style and finished by lying on her back on the track with both arms in the air in celebration after second in 2:01.34 behind Kenya’s world champion Eunice Jepkoech Sum who won in 2:00.31 and ahead of Ugandan Winnie Nanyondo, who took bronze in 2:01.39.
Sharp, from Edinburgh, had been suffering from sickness and as she told the BBC: 'The last year has been obstacle after obstacle, even right up to this morning being in the clinic in the athletes' village until 5.30.
'I hadn't slept for 12 hours and had a drip in my arm.
'It was so bad. I was like 'How am I going to be able to run if I can't bend over?' But, somehow, another miracle.
'There was no way after going through everything I have been through I was not going to get a medal.'
It has been another big summer for Sharp who will defend her title in Zurich sitting fifth on the European Athletics rankings with her personal best of 1:59.67 from Lausanne last month, having broken the two-minute barrier for the first time this year.
On Saturday’s final day of athletics, England’s 4x100m relay teams will be chasing medals, with 100m individual silver medallist Adam Gemili in a quartet that faces a Jamaican foursome which includes Usain Bolt.