Harrogate swimmer Gabe Shepherd wins Yorkshire's first medal of 2026 Commonwealth Games

The Harrogate swimmer, 18, joined forces with Jacob Mills, Jacob Whittle and James Guy in the 4x100m freestyle event to finish second on the opening night of action in Glasgow.

The English team touched the wall two seconds behind a strong Australian outfit as South Africa bagged bronze ahead of Scotland.

And young star Mills, 18, was delighted to get off to a flyer after England’s 4x100m women’s team had also won silver moments before.

He said: “It was a good one to start for me – I didn’t swim this morning so it was nice to get a first hit out and build from there for the week.

“It’s good to get the first one under the belt.

“The girls won a silver before us which was nice, so it was a good start for Team England and now we’ll just let the week progress.”

It was quite a night at the Tolcross International Swimming Centre as home favourite Duncan Scott claimed a stirring gold medal for Team Scotland.

Scott, Team GB’s most decorated swimmer in Olympic history, claimed a fourth Commonwealth crown in the 200m individual medley ahead of British teammate Tom Dean, who memorably beat him in Tokyo.

The atmosphere in the venue was electric and Mills admits watching that race helped propel Team England onto the podium.

“The crowd was awesome,” he added.

“Walking out was super loud and having the Scots there too was a nice experience.

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