England’s James Wilby and Scotland’s Ross Murdoch both win Commonwealth medals

England’s James Wilby and Scotland’s Ross Murdoch savoured their Commonwealth Games medals on Friday night after both had questioned their swimming futures following last year’s Olympics.

Wilby and Murdoch were one-two in the men’s 200 metres breaststroke on the Gold Coast in 2018 but settled for silver and bronze respectively in Birmingham, behind world record holder Zac Stubblety-Cook as Australia claimed five of the seven gold medals on offer on the opening day in the pool.

But while Wilby was unable to retain his title despite leading the way for the first 150m before finishing 0.52 seconds behind Stubblety-Cook’s winning time of two minutes and 8.07secs, he was satisfied after reflecting on a tumultuous past 12 months.

“It’s been a strange year, a bit of a rollercoaster, so I’m really happy to do that,” said Wilby, who won one of England’s two silvers at the Sandwell Aquatic Centre.

“Basically I came off the back of the Olympics and really struggled with where I was at and not knowing whether I wanted to continue swimming.

“It was a pretty rough two years leading into the Olympics and that all kind of came crashing down after the Olympics.

“I had to take a bit of time out the water, slowly rebuild into the water, get expert help and really work on myself. That’s put me in a really good position so I’m just really happy.

“Whatever medal I get, whatever place I get, as long as I put in the effort. The main thing for me now is just being happy in the sport and really making my family proud.”

Murdoch, gold medallist in the event in 2014, briefly retired at the end of last year but did not disclose his decision publicly and then performed a U-turn a couple of months later.

“Now I stand here five months later with that