Ross Murdoch caused a sensation on the first morning of the swimming competition at Tollcross Park by beating Michael Jamieson, the home-town favourite, into second place in the heats of the 200 metres breaststroke.

Jamieson led at the halfway stage but Murdoch, 20, reined in his 25-year-old compatriot and set a new Commonwealth Games record of 2mins 8.78secs, a time that lifted him up to sixth in the world rankings.

Jamieson has been billed as the poster boy of Glasgow 2014 and is targeting a world record on tonight's final, for which he has qualified second-fastest with Calum Tait of Scotland close behind in third.

Jamieson timed 2:10.17, more than three seconds short of world-record time, and admitted he had been gripped by nerves during the build-up.

"I was really nervous the last couple of days, I think at the start of this week I was getting worse and worse in the water and tightening up, and just letting the nerves get the better of me," said the Olympic silver medallist.

"But I feel a lot better after that, and I think that will just flush everything out. I'm just going to chill out now because I've got a lot of work to do tonight."

Murdoch, from Alexandria in Dunbartonshire, added: "I feel great, and I feel I've got more in the tank."