SCOTT LINCOLN was thrilled to cement his place in Team England history after winning bronze in the men’s shot put at the Commonwealth Games.

Northallerton’s Lincoln battled through a topsy-turvy contest on Friday and dialled into the bouncing Alexander Stadium crowd to take third behind New Zealand pair Tom Walsh and Jacko Gill with a best throw of 20.57m.

Lincoln’s only previous experience of the Games was fielding the call that he hadn’t been selected for the Gold Coast in 2018 while operating the digger on site with his dad.

“It’s not quite sunk in yet but it’s absolutely incredible to get the job done in the end,” said Lincoln.

“Me and my dad and a few family members and work colleagues were talking about the last Commonwealth Games. I was actually on site when I got the call to say I wasn’t selected.

“I had made the standard a few times but I was in the digger at the time. We were just talking about it and having a bit of a laugh and saying how things have changed now and to make the most of it now we are here.”

Lincoln certainly did that despite enduring a difficult start to the competition after failing to throw over 20m in his first four attempts, which included two fouls.

He relished the deafening home support, with several family members, friends and colleagues watching on, but admitted he got lost in the moment before steadying himself and using the noise to propel himself onto the podium.

Lincoln added: “It was a tricky first four throws, I was just getting a bit over excited with the crowd noise.

“I’ve never had anything like that before, it was absolutely incredible. It puts a different excitement level to it and that’s what helped me through in round five to get relaxed and they got behind me.

“I was confused, I was like I am not in 19m shape but I kept doing 19m throws.

“But we just got a cue that started to work and the last two rounds were half decent but you always want more as an athlete.”

The 13-time British champion made his Olympic debut at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Games last year but missed out on the final.

And Lincoln also returned disappointed with his efforts at last month’s World Championships in Eugene, failing to qualify again after managing just 19.97m.

However, realising the dream he had visualised on his Commonwealth debut has more than offset previous setbacks and he is looking to back up his success in the upcoming European Championships.

“I had a disappointing worlds but I definitely feel I’ve made up for it now,” Lincoln explained.

“I can’t celebrate too hard. I've got the Europeans in a week and a half, so we will just go for some decent food and maybe the odd beer if we can find some but we will see what happens.

“I don’t see why I can’t medal at the Europeans. It’s just a matter of taking what I’ve learnt here, not getting too excited and going from there.”

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