Commonwealth bronze is LA Olympics platform for Leamington's Lauren Cox
Leamington swim star Lauren Cox hopes her brilliant Commonwealth Games bronze medal this week will provide a platform for the Los Angeles Olympics.
The 24-year-old finished third in her 50m backstroke event in Glasgow to follow up her world bronze in Fukuoka three years ago and land a first individual Commonwealth medal after two team bronzes four years before in Birmingham.
Cox touched the wall in 27.56 as Canadian Kyle Masse grabbed gold ahead of Australian Iona Alexandra Anderson.
The West Midlands star missed out on qualification for Paris 2024 but relished duelling it out with a world-class field here.
And she hopes that invaluable experience can help book her place on the Team GB plane in two years’ time.
"You never know what's going to happen - I just tried to execute my race plan as best as possible,” she said.
“I just wanted to put my hand on the wall as quickly as possible.
“It’s definitely good for the Games to have this quality of opposition - when you come here you want to be challenged and pushed.
“The better the opposition the better it's going to make you for the pinnacle, which is the Olympic Games.
“To know that I can perform like that in a final under pressure is brilliant.
“It hasn’t quite sunk in yet – it’s amazing and makes me so proud to see see all the hard work I’ve been putting in over the last four years has paid off and led to this moment.”
In the 100m backstroke event Cox finished fifth in Sunday's final, touching the wall in 1:00.35.
Cox, with Adam Ramsay-Peaty, Ed Mildred and Freya Colbert, also finished just outside the podium places in the Mixed 4x100m Medley Relay but improved on Team England's heats swim to finish fifth in 3.45.59.
She then ended her games as part of the women’s 4x100m Medley Relay team that finished fifth in a strong line-up in 4.00.74 on Wednesday night.
Cox is one of 251 Team England athletes here in Glasgow supported by National Lottery funding, with Sport England investment for Glasgow totalling an approximate 9.5m.
The swimming events have been taking place at the Tollcross Centre in the east of the city in front of a raucous Scottish atmosphere.
Cox last raced here at the British Nationals back in 2019 and has relished the prospect of returning.
And with the European Championships in Paris just around the corner, she hopes to continue her momentum across the Channel.
“I’ve got the Europeans next so I’m going to regroup, recover as best as possible and get my head in the right place for another big week,” she added.
“The atmosphere this week has really spurred me on – it’s been lovely to hear the roar of crowd.
“Even though I’m not Scottish, it was so, so special.”
Thanks to National Lottery players, more than £33m is raised every week for good causes. It’s because of you that sport, arts, heritage and community projects, as well as our athletes competing at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, are supported across the UK.