The 23-year-old said she was racing for her 10-year-old self when she took to the water at Tollcross International Swimming Centre on Wednesday.

The 200m Butterfly was Rogers’ favourite event until a serious car accident in 2021 resulted in an impairment affecting her right arm and hand.

The Scot was told she would never swim competitively again but she returned to the pool as a Para swimmer in 2022.

She won the 100m Butterfly S10 title at the World Championships a year later before being crowned Paralympic champion at the Paris 2024 Games.

But her dream was to compete in the 200m Butterfly - which is not a Para event - at a major meet. It took her some time to start swimming the four-length distance after her accident. Every stroke felt like a reminder of her impairment.

However, last season she decided to put her "big girl pants on" and try it again.

“It went better than I thought it would,” she said. “I got over that initial frustration and coming to terms with my impairment helped a lot, as well as just getting older and being more mature about it.

“When I started swimming it again, I was faster than I thought I was going to be. I managed to go faster than I ever did before my accident, which was insane.”

Rogers soon started “hassling the powers that be” to allow her to compete in Glasgow alongside Olympic swimmers.

She received the green light to take part just weeks before the Games and took to the blocks on Wednesday, five days after dominating the 200m Individual Medley SM10 to claim her first Commonwealth title.

Rogers finished seventh in her heat and although she didn’t progress to the final, taking part was a triumph on its own.

“Just being in the call room was such a surreal experience because that's something I'd dreamed about since I was a little girl. It was a dream I'd given up on after my accident, so to be able to do it despite my disability made me so proud.
Faye Rogers

“The race didn't go my way but the win was just getting up there and racing it. I'm really happy and really proud of myself.

"Everyone competing wants to win a gold medal, so I'm super excited that I managed to do that [in the 200m IM S10]. But the 200 fly is so much more of a personal achievement. The vast majority of people watching will have no idea how huge that was for me.

“I was racing for 10-year-old Faye.”

Returning to competitive Swimming after her accident has also instilled self-belief in Rogers away from the pool. She is studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh after doing a biochemistry undergraduate degree at the University of Aberdeen.

“It gave me the confidence to believe I can do anything. It might look a little bit different, but that's OK.”