The South African star had to dig deep over the closing metres to hold off Australia's Brittany Castelluzzo by the slimmest of margins, touching the wall in 57.39 seconds - just 0.01 seconds ahead of her rival - to secure her second individual medal of the Games.

Australia's Alex Perkins claimed gold, while Scotland's Keanna Macinnes delighted the home crowd with silver.

Erin Gallagher - Team SA

For Gallagher, the medal carried extra significance. Earlier in the Games, the 27-year-old revealed that Glasgow would mark her final Commonwealth Games, bringing to a close a journey that began in the same city as a Grade 10 learner in 2014.

“I knew this race was going to be a dogfight,” Gallagher said afterwards.

“When I touched the wall and saw third place, I just thanked God. I think I was thanking Him for keeping me alive over those last five metres.”

Gallagher was perfectly positioned at the halfway mark after turning second behind Perkins. However, the race came alive over the final 50 metres as Macinnes surged past in front of a roaring Scottish crowd, while Castelluzzo launched a late charge from the outside lanes.

With the bronze medal hanging in the balance, Gallagher found one final burst to keep her hands ahead of the Australian's on the finish, sealing an emotional podium finish by the narrowest possible margin.

The bronze adds to the silver she won in the 50m butterfly earlier in the competition, as well as the bronze from South Africa's 4x100m freestyle relay team, taking her personal medal tally in Glasgow to three.

Lara van Niekerk - TeamSA

“I changed my tactic after speaking to Dean Price before the race and his advice paid off. I really had to hang on, but I'm so happy to come away with a medal.”

The result also represented a remarkable turnaround after Gallagher failed to reach the 100m butterfly final at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games four years ago.

She believes the success of the South African swimming team has been driven by the incredible atmosphere within the squad.

Michael Houlie - TeamSA

“When you walk into our team area there's so much energy. Everyone feeds off each other's performances and every great swim inspires the next person. It's become a snowball effect.”

Gallagher's Commonwealth Games farewell is not over yet, with two relay events still to come before she signs off on a career that has spanned four Commonwealth Games and established her as one of South Africa's finest butterfly swimmers.

Elsewhere on Monday night, Michael Houlie added another medal to South Africa's tally by winning silver in the men's 50m breaststroke. Although pleased with the podium finish, the ambitious South African admitted he was disappointed after narrowly missing out on gold.

Olivia Nel took second in her 50m backstroke semi-final - TeamSA

Australia's Sam Williamson claimed victory in 26.50 seconds, with Houlie finishing second in 26.77 ahead of England's Adam Peaty-Ramsay, who took bronze.

South Africa's impressive showing in the pool continued as Lara van Niekerk and Rebecca Meder both qualified for the women's 50m breaststroke final, while Kaylene Corbett narrowly missed out after finishing ninth overall.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport