We are all excited at the prospect of a Glasgow Games in 2014, and something we certainly like to do at In The Winning Zone is to be positive about the future.  It is all very well that Scotland has had a great sporting year in 2007, but where will we place on the sporting map in 2014?  Are we cut out to take the honours at the Commonwealth Games?  Will we pip the heroes of 2006? 

Well, we can’t predict the future, but with seven years left until go-time, here are seven young athletes who we think might be hogging the podium places on home soil...

1. Hannah Miley – swimming; Aberdeenshire’s Hannah started making and breaking records early.  She was the youngest athlete ever to be accepted into the Scottish Institute of Sport, and is now on a fast track (or lane) to becoming a superstar.  She gained her first senior GB appearance at only 16 in the European Short Course Championships in Trieste, and earlier this year she smashed the British 200m record in the Individual Medley.  Hannah will be in her mid-20s when the 2014 Games come along, and she will have a point to prove.  After suffering a viral infection just 6 weeks before the 2006 Games in Melbourne, though she still finished 4th in the 400m medley, she is determined to add Commonwealth gold to her collection after missing her first chance.  The only worry?  By the time Glasgow comes around, she may have already achieved that goal at Delhi in 2010!

2. Kenny Bain – hockey: Cracking Kenny, in his final year as the star pupil at the Glasgow School of Sport, is already banging in the goals for the Scotland senior men’s hockey team.  Plus, the striker has already had a taste of competing against the world’s best on home soil, when he starred for Scotland in the EuroHockey Youth Nations Championships at Peffermill in July, scoring ten goals in five games and winning the Player of the Tournament award.  His lethal combination of skill, finishing and pace make for a great all round player, but Bain also has the mental edge, citing the need to have a winning, warrior spirit to cut it against the best.  Will he be banging in the goals come 2014?

3. Ross Edgar – sprint cycling: Not so much a rising star like many of the others, Edgar is more of an already established champion, at a relatively young age (24).  But by 2014, there is every chance the (currently) young Mr Edgar, a UCI World Championship silver medallist, will be taking on the leadership role currently held by stalwarts and legends Chris Hoy and Craig MacLean.  Having already experienced two Commonwealth Games and one Olympic Games at just 24, Edgar will be the go-to-guy for the Scotland sprint cycling team when they roll into Glasgow.  His experience of the big event will be crucial, and he could be the key to carrying on a burgeoning tradition of great Scottish cyclists at the Commonwealth Games.

4. Jayne Nisbet – athletics:  19 year-old Jayne, featured in this month’s WinningZine, will jump through hoops if she has to in order to get to Glasgow 2014.  But she is better at jumping over bars and across sand, seeing she is Scottish champion in the high jump , British under-20 triple jump champion and a not too shabby long jumper either.  Whether Jayne is still just a jumper, or has adapted to the heptathlon by the time the Games come around, being a gifted all-rounder with a mentality to match, is another question.  But if she continues her winning form into her mid 20s, she could be a solid bet for the podium places.

5. Peter Kirkbride – weightlifting: Possibly one of Scotland’s strongest contenders, quite literally, as the Kilmarnock teenager is already squatting weights of over 35 stone!  A young prodigy, who found an outlet for a troubled childhood in sport, Kirkbride has been regularly shattering British records at all age-levels as he has risen through the rankings, and has won just about every domestic honour available to him.  A gold medallist at the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2004, and placing 8th in his first senior games last year, the 19 year-old is tipped by his coach, Charlie Hamilton, to be at his peak and winning against the big boys by the time the Glasgow Games roll into town.

6. Matthew Thomson – shooting: Having become the first Briton to win a world rifle shooting medal in eight years in 2006, when he won the World Junior Smallbore Rifle Championships by a single point, much responsibility and expectation lies on the shoulders, (particularly the right shoulder!) of 21 year-old Matthew Thomson.  He is not only a top medal prospect for Scotland in 2014, but also a potential candidate as a leader and role model for the team.  By 2014 he will be 28, and having already shown his leadership skills at a very young age by leading the British team to the World Junior title, the Edinburgh University student is being held in high regard for a leading role in Glasgow.

7. Imogen Bankier – badminton: The form player in Scottish Badminton at present, 20-year old Imogen is ramping up her performances in doubles and mixed doubles almost every time she sets foot on court.  Having already formed a strong and potentially world class partnership with fellow Scot Emma Mason, her performances alongside defected Scot Robert Blair has seen their partnership burst into the world’s top 100, having only teamed up in the summer.  Unaffected by the challenge highly seeded players and accustomed to putting up a fight, having suffered as a younger player for being too small, Bankier embodies spirit that is necessary to complement the talent required to win medals at the highest level.

So, in every department, we are in with a shot.  Scotland is already building strong foundations for its elite athletes, and with confirmation that the Glasgow Games will go ahead, more money, more coaching and more efforts will go in to developing these fine athletes, plus dozens of others, into Commonwealth medal winning material.

RO
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