Ariarne Titmus, Sam Short and the women’s 4x100m medley relay team secured yet more gold for Australia as the Commonwealth Games swimming competition closed in Birmingham. A highly successful campaign in the pool ended with Thursday morning’s AEST treble to take Australia’s gold tally to 25 in the final tally.
Titmus claimed victory in the women’s 400m freestyle – the 21-year-old’s seventh Commonwealth gold, on top of two Olympic golds and two world titles – after edging out 15-year-old rising Canadian star Summer McIntosh, with Australia’s Kiah Melverton claiming bronze. in an exciting race.
McIntosh had announced herself as a future star at the world championships in Budapest and won the 200m and 400m individual medley at that meet. A night after winning the 800m freestyle, Titmus, who defeated U.S. champion Katie Ledecky in the event at the Tokyo Olympics, clocked a time of 3:58.06 to beat McIntosh by just over one second. He also won the 200m freestyle.
His latest success followed Short’s sensational swim to claim the gold medal in the 1500m freestyle and continue Australia’s rich tradition in the endurance race. The 18-year-old won a thrilling contest in 14:48.54, just over three seconds ahead of Northern Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen, with England’s Luke Turley third.
In the final events of the swimming competition, the women’s 4x100m medley relay team beat Canada, with England claiming bronze, to give Emma McKeon her sixth gold medal of these Games, but there there was a disappointment for the men’s team, which was overtaken by England as Kyle Chalmers touched the silver.
100m freestyle hero Mollie O’Callaghan gave Canadian world champion Kylie Masse a scare in the 50m backstroke when she beat her by just 0.16 seconds. Maase, a four-time Olympic medalist, rallied late to win in 27.31 seconds with Kaylee McKeown continuing her superb meet to claim bronze.
In track and field, Brandon Starc failed to defend his Commonwealth high jump crown as he took silver behind New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr after both men cleared 2.25m. while in the men’s 100m final, sprinter Rohan Browning finished sixth.
Brandon Starc takes a moment with his baby after winning high jump silver. Photograph: Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images
Resilience has been a hallmark throughout Peter Bol’s extraordinary life and the Australian athlete was not going to let an injured ankle derail his Commonwealth Games dreams. The 28-year-old, whose family fled Sudan’s civil war when he was four, has dealt with the stress of competing against the best in the grueling event for the past decade.
There have been moments of brilliance, with his fourth-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics last year an illustration. More recently, a seventh-place finish in the world championship was deflated. On Tuesday, when he rolled an ankle ahead of his appearance in an 800m heat in Birmingham, Bol would have been forgiven for fearing the worst.
Instead, he concentrated. He froze his ankle. Put your feet up. Re-ice the joint. And one more time. It was a professional approach to a scare. He planned to keep fighting, no matter the pain. But it wasn’t until Wednesday morning that he was convinced he would do his best. Walking 800m on a sprained ankle is painful, let alone running it. But Bol pulled it off with flying colors as he clocked 1:47.01 to qualify fastest for Sunday’s final at Alexander Stadium.
“I rolled my ankle yesterday and was limping on the way back and I’m perfectly fine today so it’s a big thanks to the Athletics Australia medical team,” he said. “I wasn’t playing basketball, I promise. I rolled it on the pavement of the track. It’s the first time. By night I was getting better and then in the morning I said, “Bam.” I’m ready to go.”
The ease with which he claimed the heat is proof of that. Bol is ahead of Kenya’s Cornelius Tuwai, who has a faster personal best than the Western Australian, for the first 550m before going with him to cross the line.
“To be honest, I felt comfortable and I really enjoyed it,” he said. “It was amazing to come back from the worlds, because it was a disappointing final, so to come back here and be in incredible form and finish like this in the end is incredible.”
After being knocked out in the quarter-finals in Tokyo by India, Australia have a chance for redemption in a women’s hockey semi-final in Birmingham on Friday. The Hockeyroos maintained a perfect record in their group as they defeated Scotland 2-0, while India claimed what was effectively a sudden-death clash against Canada 3-2 to progress.
Also maintaining a perfect record of reaching the medal rounds was the women’s Twenty20 cricket team, who have performed brilliantly in their maiden Commonwealth Games. Excellent innings from unbeaten Beth Mooney, who scored 70 off 49 balls, and Tahlia McGrath, who was 78 not out from 51 balls, helped Australia to a total of 160-2 against Pakistan.
The Aussies will find out their semi-final opponent after England face New Zealand on Thursday.
In other action on Wednesday, Zoe Cuthbert became the first Australian to win a mountain bike medal by finishing second at Cannock Chase Forest, north of Birmingham. The 21-year-old finished 47 seconds behind England’s Evie Campbell, but showed she is a star of the future with both her skill on the bike and her composure and race awareness.
Australia’s greatest competitor Cheryl Lindfield, 63, has been a hit in the athletes’ village where she is staying, with the women’s rugby sevens team in particular standing out for her. Lindfield and partner Serena Bonnell enjoyed a successful run in Leamington Spa when they claimed silver in the women’s pairs (B6-B8).
The Australian combination was finally overcome by Scotland as they thrashed 17-5, making it the country’s second defeat in a home final to the Scots in as many days. “We were the underdogs,” he said. “We’re very happy with that. We’re going to wake up tomorrow with a silver… so how good?”
Charisma Amoa Tarrant performed well in weightlifting as she claimed a bronze medal in the women’s 87kg category behind England’s Emily Campbell, who set a new Commonwealth record.