IMAGE|| MICHAEL WILLSON
Swimming continued to dominate our medal haul with the overall total now up to 106 including 39 gold. Swimming, with one more day to go, have collected 60 medals, a record at a single Games. Gymnastics enjoyed a strong day with three medals including two gold. Lawn Bowls won the women’s fours, their first win in that event in 28 years.
GOLD MEDALS (8)
Gymnastics Men’s Vault Christopher REMKES
Gymnastics Women’s Floor Exercise Alexandra EADE
Athletics Men’s T38 100m Evan O’HANLON
Lawn Bowls Women’s Fours bio photo Kelsey COTTRELL Carla KRIZANIC Natasha SCOTT Rebecca van ASCH
Swimming Men’s 200m Backstroke Mitch LARKIN
Swimming Men’s S7 50m Freestyle Matthew LEVY
Swimming Women’s 100m Freestyle Bronte CAMPBELL
Swimming Women’s 800m Freestyle Ariarne TITMUS
SILVER MEDALS (8)
Gymnastics Artistic Women’s Balance Beam Georgia-Rose BROWN
Shooting Men’s 10m Air Pistol bio photo Kerry BELL
Swimming Men’s 200m Backstroke Bradley WOODWARD
Swimming Women’s 100m Freestyle Cate CAMPBELL
Swimming Women’s 200m Butterfly Laura TAYLOR
Swimming Women’s 800m Freestyle Jessica ASHWOOD
Swimming Women’s SB9 100m Breaststroke Paige LEONHARDT
Weightlifting Women’s 90kg Kaity FASSINA
BRONZE MEDALS (6)
Swimming Men’s 100m Butterfly Grant IRVINE
Swimming Men’s 200m Backstroke Josh BEAVER
Swimming Women’s 100m Breaststroke Georgia BOHL
Swimming Women’s 200m Butterfly Emma MCKEON
Swimming Women’s 800m Freestyle Kiah MELVERTON
Swimming Women’s SB9 100m Breaststroke Madeleine SCOTT
ATHLETICS
Australia’s Evan O’Hanlon comfortably added a Commonwealth title to his impressive career which has included world and Paralympic titles. O’Hanlon won the T38 100m in 11.09, well ahead of South Africa’s Dyan Buis with 11.33. In his international debut, 15-year-old Sam Walker placed a promising sixth in11.80.
One of the performances of the night was the brilliant international championship debut by Celia Sullohern in the 10,000m. She placed sixth and was just five seconds behind the winner and two seconds from a medal. Her enormous PB time of 31:50.75 rocketed her from 22nd to seventh Australian all-time. Also, Madeline Hills, who has had injury problems over the last year, was an amazing eighth in 32:01.04. In the field, Damien Birkinhead was 14 centimetres short of a medal in the shot, placing fifth with a distance of 20.77m.
For Kurt Fearnley it was his penultimate appearance on the track at a Games and he made it count cruising into the men’s T54 1500m final. He will be joined in the final by team mates Jake Lappin and Sam Rizzo. In the 400m heats Anneliese Rubie was untroubled winning her heat in 52.32. Sadly 17-year-old Commonwealth Youth champion, Bendere Oboya couldn’t overcome a hamstring injury and proceed to the second round. In the high jump qualifying round, the bar never reached the auto standard of 2.27m, only going to 2.21m where 13 athletes progressed into the final. Aussie Brandon Starc was one of the 13 to proceed. In the heats of the world class women’s 1500m there were hopeful results from Aussie pair Georgia Griffith and Linden Hall as they both automatically proceeded into the final highlighted by a PB time of 4:06.41 from Griffith. A very solid run of 45.55 by Steve Solomon in his semi-final enabled him to progress to the 400m final as the fastest non-automatic qualifier.
Overnight in the decathlon Cedric Dubler continued his gallant battle, despite a bad elbow injury. In fourth place with 4218 points, his performances were 100m 10.69, long jump 7.59m, shot put 12.34m, high jump 2.01m and 400m 48.39. In eighth Kyle Cranston has tallied 3933 points.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Three games – three wins for the Boomers.
Australia closed out the preliminary rounds with a comprehensive 42-point drubbing of Nigeria despite the absence of Chris Goulding with a sore knee. Angus Brandt was strong inside as he worked his way to 16 points and six boards, while Brad Newley hit some form with 12 points. Lucas Walker saw some court time and chipped in with 11 points as all Boomers registered on the scorecard.
The Boomers will now head to the Gold Coast for a semi final matchup this coming Saturday.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
The Opals have finished off group play with a destructive 63-point dismantling of England. Liz Cambage continued her hot form with 30 points in just under 18 minutes on the floor while young gun Ezi Magbegor chipped in with 14 of her own in a promising showing. Our Aussie girls have now won their group games against their top three seeded opponents by an average winning margin of 54 points, and will now make the trip to the Gold Coast for knockout play.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL
Australia’s Chris McHugh and Damien Schumann have finished on top of their pool undefeated after another impressive performance with a straight sets win over Trinidad and Tobago 21-13, 21-16.
Tonight’s match was the toughest test for the Aussies so far with the boys from the Caribbean also undefeated before tonight and keen to put on a show for the big crowd. McHugh and Schumann however were equally as determined not to let the Aussie fans down, nailing all the big plays when it mattered.
The second set saw Trinidad and Tobago go up a gear as it went point for point for a while before the Aussies’ class came through. McHugh dominated at the net and Schumann chased everything down to make sure his taller partner was given good ball to attack and close out the match.
BOXING
WA boxer Caitlin Parker has guaranteed herself a Commonwealth Games boxing medal, after defeating one of the sport’s most promising medal chances Natasha Gale from England.
The Commonwealth Games debutant began the fight in style, throwing a punch straight to the face of her opponent in the opening seconds. Parker held herself through the first two rounds, and although she was deducted a point, the win was a unanimous decision by all five judges.
21-year-old Clay Waterman also counted yet another win in the 81kg division and will now advance to the quarter finals, after defeating Sean Lazzarini from Scotland. It wasn’t as easy a win as Parker’s though, with Waterman being named as the champion of the bout by split decision.
Harry Garside’s bout today made it a three from three bout victory from Australia today. Facing Namibia’s Tryagain Ndevelo in the men’s 60kg division, Garside had to work to get the win, but played the entire bout safely. With three more bouts before he has a chance at Commonwealth glory, it was clear Garside relied on his speed and agility rather than the force in his punches to clear the win.
GYMNASTICS – ARTISTIC
It’s been a golden day for Australian Gymnastics at Coomera Indoor Sports Centre, with Australia taking home both the first and last gold medals on offer on the final day of the Artistic Gymnastics competition at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Chris Remkes was up first, flying the flag for Australia in the Men’s Vault Final, and if he could feel the expectations of his country on his shoulders, he definitely didn’t show it, with near perfect execution of both of his Vaults (scoring 9.266 and 9.133 execution on both of his Vaults respectively) to come out with an average score of 14.799. A score that would earn him gold, edging out English pair Courtney Tulloch and top-ranked Dominick Cunningham.
Alexandra Eade joined the party soon after, delivering a dazzling, high-energy routine to claim a surprise gold medal victory in the floor event ahead of Canadian vault champion Shallon Olsen.
The gymnastics medals did not stop there, as Georgia-Rose Brown — who finished fifth behind Eade in the floor exercise — won a silver medal on the balance beam apparatus.
Brown’s performance earned her a score of 13.066 points, just ahead of English bronze medallist Kelly Simm (13.033). But she was unable to match Simm’s teammate, Alice Kinsella, who scored 13.700 to take the gold.
Another Australian, Emily Whitehead came fifth with a score of 12.500.
HOCKEY – WOMEN
Australia have drawn 0-0 against Trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand in their third match of the GC2018 women’s hockey tournament.
With bragging rights on the line, the Roos and Black Sticks both played a quality brand of end to end, skilful hockey, but neither side could capitalise on their attacking pressure.
Goalkeeper Rachael Lynch was called into action on a number of occasions to make some goal line saves, keeping the Roos in the game. Whilst at the other end, Brooke Perris and Emily Hurtz were busy up front, causing a headache for the Kiwi defence, but couldn’t find the back of the net.
The Hockeyroos will play Scotland tomorrow in their final pool game.
LAWN BOWLS
The Australian Jackaroos claimed their first Commonwealth Games gold medal in more than 12 years today, with Kelsey Cottrell, Carla Krizanic, Rebecca Van Asch and Natasha Scott’s names now forever etched into the sport’s annals.
The quartet broke a 4398 day Games gold medal drought for the nation, with a clinical performance against the reigning Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallists South Africa.
The nation’s bowlers with a disability open triples team of Josh Thornton, Tony Bonnell and Ken Hanson also progressed through to Wednesday’s semi-finals in top place, and will encounter South Africa.
NETBALL
Australia has registered a 108-28 win over Fiji in their fourth match of the preliminary rounds, clocking up a century for the fifth time in Australian international netball history.
The last time Australia had scored 100 points or more against any opposition was in their Commonwealth Games clash against India in 2010. The Diamonds were exceptional in defence, not registering a single penalty in the opening quarter. Their attack was slick, with accuracy under the post.
Australia starting seven – GS: Caitlin Bassett, GA: Stephanie Wood, WA: Liz Watson, C: Kim Ravaillion, WD: Gabi Simpson, GD: April Brandley, GK: Courtney Bruce
Quarter by Quarter Score:
Q1: AUS 32 – FIJ 7
Q2: AUS 55 – FIJ 15
Q3: AUS 82 – FIJ 18
Q4: AUS 108 – FIJ 23
Shooting Statistics:
Caitlin Bassett 40/41 (98%)
Caitlin Thwaites 30/31 (97%)
Susan Pettitt 23/23 (100%)
Stephanie Wood 15/19 (79%)
SHOOTING
Kerry Bell has fired his way to a debut silver medal in the men’s 10m air pistol at the Commonwealth Games. Bell, who only took up pistol shooting in 2012 at age 41, was pipped to the gold by the well-credentialed Indian competitor, Jitu Rai. Fellow Aussie and defending Commonwealth champion Daniel Repacholi, finished fourth.
Young gun Tori Rossiter finished seventh in the women’s 10m air rifle, while Emma Adams was eliminated in qualifying. Paul Adams and James Bolding contested the men’s skeet, but were both eliminated in qualifying.
SWIMMING
Australia started the penultimate night of the swimming program with a bang, taking two trifectas in the opening two events on Monday night and finishing with 15 new medals, four of which had a golden sheen. Our first success of the night came in the form of a clean sweep by Mitch Larkin, Bradley Woodward and Josh Beaver in the men’s 200m backstroke. Larkin made history with this gold medal performance, becoming the first swimmer to win each of the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke events at a Commonwealth Games event. Seventeen-year-old Ariarne Titmus led the Dolphins to a long-distance sweep by taking gold in the women’s 800m freestyle. Jess Ashwood claimed silver and Kiah Melverton, who came blazing in from fifth place at the last minute, nabbed the bronze. Continuing the Aussies’ golden streak, Matthew Levy won gold in the men’s S7 50m freestyle. Fellow Dolphins Rohan Bright and Matthew Haanappel came in at fifth and sixth, respectively.
In the women’s SB9 100m breaststroke Paige Leonhardt and Madeleine Scott fought it out for the silver and bronze medals. Leonhardt picked up the silver and Scott took bronze, which also happened to be Australia’s 100th medal in the pool. Jasmine Greenwood also contested, placing fifth. Jake Packard missed a podium finish by 0.16sec in the men’s 50m breaststroke on Monday night with teammate James McKenchie coming in close behind to take fifth place. Georgia Bohl led a strong race to take home the bronze as her first international medal in the women’s 100m breaststroke. Followed by Leiston Pickett and Jessica Hansen in sixth and eighth. Laura Taylor swam a fierce race to claim a silver medal in front of Emma McKeon who brought home the bronze in the 200m butterfly. Brianna Throssell also contested the race and came in fifth.
The upset of the night came as the Campbell sisters entered the pool for the 100m freestyle. Cate Campbell sought to defend her Glasgow 2014 gold medal and took a strong lead from the start only to be overtaken by sister Bronte in the final few metres of the race. Bronte now holds the Commonwealth gold and a personal best (PB) of 52.27secs, with Cate taking away silver. Shayna Jack finished closely behind in fourth place. In the final medal race of the night, the men’s 100m butterfly, Grant Irvine and David Morgan both had a magnificent swim but couldn’t pull ahead with Irvine winning the bronze and Morgan placing fourth.
WEIGHTLIFTING
Katy Fassina added another weightlifting medal to Australia’s tally when she snared the silver medal in the women’s 90 kg division. Fassina lifted a combined 232 kg and fell just one kilo short of the winner from Fiji. Deb Lovely-Acason just missed out on the medals with a fourth-placed finish in the women’s +90 kg class, while Ridge Barredo came eight in the men’s 105 kg and Damon Kelly fifth in the men’s +105 kg.
