A leading para-swimmer from Edinburgh says he is “feeling more and more comfortable” as he aims his sights on Commonwealth Games gold following a shoulder injury.

Stephen Clegg, 30, is an associate athlete of the University of Edinburgh’s Performance Swim Programme and attended the Royal Blind School.

He won two gold medals at the 2024 Paris summer Paralympics, as well as multiple world championship medals over his career.

Having previously competed at several Commonwealth Games, he picked up a silver medal at Birmingham in 2022 for the 50m freestyle S13.

Following success in Paris, a shoulder injury forced him to take a year out of the sport. Now back in action and selected for the Games, Clegg says he feels “great”.

Clegg said: “My body’s feeling more and more comfortable with it every week.

“I had a severe injury last year, so had surgery on my shoulder. I had a year out after Paris, just coming back in January, so it’s been a whistle-stop tour of trying to get back into fighting shape.

“I feel like the last week or so, everything has started to fall into place, and my body’s feeling good. 

“I’m feeling more confident with the technical elements of the stroke, so it’s good.”

With the Glasgow games giving Team Scotland home advantage, Clegg says the feeling of performing in front of the home crowd is “very exciting” but “quite nerve-wracking.”

Clegg said: “I’ve never experienced it on that level, Paris kind of felt similar to that, because I had a lot of people able to fly over and a lot of British fans in the crowds close by.

“I think Glasgow is going to be a very special experience, and something I honestly didn’t think I was going to get in my career.

“I was too young for London in 2012 and I had only just started my swimming career in 2014, so I thought those opportunities had kind of passed me by.”

He added: “It’s going to be really unique, and I think it’s going to be one of those experiences that I’ll cherish for a long time.”

Following his recent gold medal achievements at the Paralympics and world championships, Clegg is hoping to go one better than his silver medal from Birmingham.

When asked about what difference in training is needed to achieve a gold medal, Clegg focussed on the mental aspect of training. 

He said: “I don’t think it’s necessarily physical preperation. I think it’s mental prep, for me, was the bigger difference going into Tokyo in 2021.

“I had put a lot of pressure on outcome and I put a lot of my self worth into the colour of the medal I won, and I really struggled with the pressure whenever I’d come up to those occasions where I need to step up and try to win golds, I would just feel the weight of the world on my shoulder. 

“So, after Tokyo in 2021, I spent a year sitting back trying to reflect on the mental side of sport, and why I was really struggling with it, and came to terms with that. 

“I needed to take that pressure off and find the targets that weren’t colour related on medal, and just kind of focus the process on the outcome of my actual race, and that’s where my performances came from, and I’ve been able to build that through the last 4 to 5 years of my career now.”

Clegg said that his new mindset has brought him a “new level of enjoyment in sport”.

Coming from a family of athletes, Clegg’s siblings are both para-athletes. His brother James is also a para-swimmer, while sister Libby is a para-sprinter and track cyclist, and has several medals including two Paralympic golds.

Clegg credits Libby as having been “incredible for my career”.

He said: “She’s six years older than me. Her first Games was in 2008 in Beijing, so she has a vast amount of experience.

Clegg added: “I’ll probably call on her again, even at my age and my experience, to sort of get that sort of guidance of how to manage a home crowd, and how that felt for her.”

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