The velodrome in Glasgow’s east end might be the house of Chris Hoy but the last 24 hours have been owned by Anna Meares.
The day after after waving the flag for Australia at the opening ceremony at Celtic Park next door, the 30-year-old led from the front again by collecting the country’s first gold medal of these Commonwealth Games and the fifth of her career.
It was her third consecutive time-trial gold and set the tone for a successful first afternoon at the velodrome, with Australia also top of the podium in the men’s team pursuit with an exhilarating ride that blew away rivals England and any hope of a glorious return to the track for Bradley Wiggins.
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There was also silver for 23-year-old Stephanie Morton behind Meares in the time-trial and bronze for Australia’s men’s sprint team of Shane Perkins, Matthew Glaetzer and Nathan Hart, and for Brandie O’Connor and Breanna Hargrave in women’s para cycling.
To top it off, England were denied the gold in the team sprint by world champions New Zealand.
For Meares, it was yet another triumph, taking her beyond Kathy Watt as Australia’s most successful cyclist in all Commonwealth Games, and the venue for the history making moment was fitting.
Hoy’s name is emblazoned on the front of the velodrome, not that it did the six-time Olympic champion any good when he fronted up to watch day one of racing on Thursday.
The 38-year-old, one of Scotland’s most famous former athletes, was stopped asked by a female attendant for identification as he tried to enter the Chris Hoy Velodrome.
He got inside in the end, certainly in time to see Meares, for whom he has been a mentor, in a new Games record of 33.435sec.
“He texted me earlier and said ‘be sure to wipe your feet before you come into my nice clean velodrome,” Meares said of Hoy. “I sent one back saying ‘funny man’. He’s a cheeky one, but he’s up there watching and he’s someone that I idolise.
“He’s made himself very accessible and he’s always more than happy to reply to an email or a text message. He says to me ‘I won’t give you too much because you’re an Aussie’ but there’s enough respect there to be able to advise around some of the difficult things that can come around having a profile and all that sort of stuff.”
The world record holder also has the women’s sprint ahead of her on Saturday but reflected immediately on surpassing Watts’ mark of four Commonwealth Games gold medals.
“How nice a circle it is to 20 years ago being inspired by her to start riding and equal her representations and pass her with the gold medals tonight,” Meares said.
“I’m sure she’d be very proud.”
“I wanted to come here and have fun and worrying about expectation and what everyone else thought was not going to be conducive to that.”
While it adds to her lengthy collection of medals at major international events it was clear that Meares’ honour the previous evening, leading the Australian team into the opening ceremony, had left an even more indelible mark.
“There’s some snapshots in my mind that will stay there forever, and there will be some magnificent photos going up on the wall at home,” she said.
“I think last night, separate to this ride, would definitely be one of the biggest highlights of my career.”
Day one at the velodrome was certainly a career highlight for Meares’ young training partner Morton, whose time of 34.079 was a personal best by half a second, allowing her to pip England’s Jess Varnish (34.267) for the silver medal.
Morton made no secret of her admiration for Meares, and her glee at sharing the podium with her.
“You couldn’t ask for a better training partner,” Morton said. “She’s Anna Meares, she’s the queen.
“We were sort of having a joke today because the Queen was in the dining hall for lunch and everyone’s going ‘The Queen is here! The Queen is here!’ I said ‘Anna’s here every lunchtime guys’.
“She’s the queen of track cycling and you can’t really ask for a better role model than her.”
