DAILY REVIEW – SUNDAY 8 APRIL

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Undoubtedly one of the finest days in Australian Commonwealth Games history winning 27 medals including 11 gold. Six different sports were on the podium with swimming compiling another outstanding day of 13 medals including five gold.

The day had got underway with dual golds in the race walking at Currumbin. Shooting joined athletes in claiming their first medals of the Games while the track cycling program concluded with Australia topping the medal tally with 10 gold and a total of 19 medals.

Compiled by David Tarbotton

GOLD MEDALS (11)

8-Apr Athletics Men’s 20km Race Walk DANE BIRD-SMITH

8-Apr Athletics Women’s 20km Race Walk JEMIMA MONTAG

8-Apr Shooting Men’s 10m Air Rifle DANE SAMPSON

8-Apr Cycling Men’s 1000m Time Trial MATTHEW GLAETZER

8-Apr Swimming Men’s SMB 200m Individual medley JESSE AUNGLES

8-Apr Swimming women’s S9 100m Freestyle LAKEISHA PATTERSON

8-Apr Cycling Women’s 10km Scratch Race AMY CURE

8-Apr Cycling Women’s Keirin STEPHANIE MORTON

8-Apr Swimming Men’s 50m Backstroke MITCH LARKIN

8-Apr Swimming Women’s 50m Butterfly CATE CAMPBELL

8-Apr Swimming Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay KYLE CHALMERS, ELIJAH WINNINGTON, MACK HORTON & ALEXANDER GRAHAM

SILVER MEDALS (8)

Athletics Men’s Hammer Throw Matty DENNY

Athletics Women’s T38 Long Jump Erin CLEAVER

Cycling Women’s Keirin Kaarle MCCULLOCH

Lawn Bowls Men’s Triples Nathan RICE Barrie LESTER Aron SHERRIFF

Swimming Men’s 100m Freestyle Kyle CHALMERS

Swimming Men’s SM8 200m Individual Medley Blake COCHRANE

Swimming Women’s 50m Butterfly Holly BARRATT

Swimming Men’s 50m Backstroke Benjamin TREFFERS

BRONZE MEDALS (8)

Gymnastics Artistic Women’s Uneven Bars Georgia GODWIN

Gymnastics Artistic Women’s Vault Emily WHITEHEAD

Athletics Women’s T38 Long Jump Taylor DOYLE

Shooting Women’s 10m Air Pistol Elena GALIABOVITCH

Swimming Men’s 50m Backstroke Zac INCERTI

Swimming Women’s 200m Backstroke Emily SEEBOHM

Swimming Women’s 50m Butterfly Madeline GROVES

Swimming Women’s S9 100m Freestyle Ellie COLE

ATHLETICS

A perfect start to the Games for Athletics with twin gold in the road walks by Dane Bird-Smith and Jemima Montag. The 20-year-old Montag became the youngest winner in Commonwealth Games race walking history.

The focus switched to the track where there was success immediately when Matt Denny overcame a challenging start of two fouls in the hammer throw, to post a personal best (PB) and silver medal distance of 74.88m. It was followed by a silver and bronze in the T38 long jump won by Erin Cleaver and Taylor Doyle, respectively. In the 5000m, Stewart McSweyn placed a gallant fifth. In the blue ribbon event, the men’s 100m, Rohan Browning and Trae Williams both progressed to the semifinals, with Browning coming so close to making the when he clocked the same time as the automatic second qualifier in his semifinal.

In the 400m heats, US-based Steve Solomon coasted to a win in 45.39, the second fastest time of the day and his third quickest since he made the London Olympic final six years ago as a teenager.

 

BASKETBALL – WOMEN

The Opals proved they are the team to beat against the second seed Canada, sending a strong message with a 39-point victory. The competition has a lot of ground to make up with the Aussies streets ahead of the field. Liz Cambage was dominant as ever with 23 points while Steph Talbot added 14 of her own. Australia will back up again tomorrow night against England to round out the preliminary rounds.

 

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

Under the hot Gold Coast sun, Australia’s Chris McHugh and Damien Schumann were looking to continue the Aussie men and women teams’ unbeaten start to these first ever Commonwealth Games for Beach Volleyball.

St Kitts and Nevis were the opponents but put up little resistance as McHugh and Schumann blitzed their way through to a 16-0 first set lead.  There was a huge roar from the crowd when the likeable and smiling pair from St Kitts and Nevis finally got on the scoreboard to make it 16-1. The Aussies closed out the first set 21-3.

The second set had more for the St Kitts boys to smile about and brought the crowd right into it as they dug deep and bagged some great points. In the end, the Aussies had too much class for their second win of the tournament 21-3, 21-11.

Australia’s final pool match for the women saw them face off against Scotland under the balmy Coolangatta night skies and another packed stadium.

Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar received a huge roar when introduced to the crowd and for the opening exchanges it looked like the popular Aussies might be in for a battle for the first time this tournament.

Scotland were brave early on as it went point for point but they just couldn’t hold the Australians for long and once they found their groove the Aussies rolled on to comfortably take the first set 21-9.

The second set continued as the first with the Scottish girls offering little to prevent this formidable Australian duo from putting another clinic and cruise to their third straight win 21-9, 21-9 to finish top of their pool.

The Australians will have the day off tomorrow ahead of Tuesday’s quarterfinals.

 

BOXING

Two wins and a loss completed the day for Australia’s boxers at the Commonwealth Games.

Welterweight Kaye Scott began the day with a sensational win against Nigeria’s Hunu Oriola in the 69kg division, allowing her a semi final berth and a chance at a gold medal. Scott won by unanimous decision, in her first fight in six months. Liam Wilson was also victorious tonight against John Ume from Papua New Guinea in the 64kg division. Liam finished up each round with a win and will also progress to the semis. There was one loss tonight, and that was by Campbell Somerville against Vikas Krishnan from India. Krishnan proved to be too strong in his agility and speed, coming up as the clear winner over the Australian. The decision was a unanimous one by all judges.

 

CYCLING

Matthew Glaetzer finished his heavy Commonwealth campaign with victory in the 1000m time trial. Glaetzer, who was “gutted” following his shock elimination from the men’s sprint on Saturday, achieved victory and redemption in emphatic fashion, clocking the fastest time ever ridden at sea level, 59.340s.

Stephanie Morton snared her third gold medal of GC2018, taking out the women’s keirin. Morton powered to victory in 10.886 seconds, finishing just ahead of teammate Kaarle McCulloch.

Amy Cure won Australia’s ninth track cycling Commonwealth gold, the Tasmanian prevailing in a perfectly executed 10km scratch race. Cameron Meyer finished fourth in the gruelling 40km points race.

Australia finished the GC2018 track cycling competition with 19 medals overall; 10 gold, 3 silver and 6 bronze.

 

GYMNASTICS – ARTISTIC

Emily Whitehead and Georgia Godwin have kept the medals flowing for the Aussies at the in the Artistic Gymnastics competition today clutching a bronze each on Vault and Uneven Bars.

Whitehead was the second last athlete to Vault in the Final, and the 17-year-old had to wait and watch nervously whilst the final competitor – Wales’ Holly Jones – put up two strong Vaults to contest for the bronze.  In an incredibly tight contest, Whitehead prevailed, joining Canadians Shallon Olsen (14.566) and Ellie Black (14.233) on the podium.

It was another full program for Godwin, who backed up her performance on Vault by competing in the Uneven Bars Final.  However it was Godwin’s teammate, Georgia-Rose Brown, who took to the apparatus before her, performing yet another clean routine on her favourite apparatus, to score 13.233.

After seven Uneven Bars routines, Brown remained in the bronze medal position – behind England’s Georgia-Mae Fenton (14.600) and Canada’s Brittany Rogers (14.200) – with the only person that could relegate her out of the medals being her teammate; Godwin.  Despite not being a specialist on this apparatus, Godwin made sure that she was going to make the final routine of her Games campaign count, performing an error-free routine to earn a score of 13.433, snatching the bronze right out from under Brown’s nose by just 0.200.

On the Men’s side of the competition, Chris Remkes and Michael Tone flew the Aussie flag, with both gents competing in the Pommel Horse Final.

Tone’s 12.433 and Remkes 13.733 were not enough to bring them up amongst the medals, finishing in seventh and sixth respectively.

HOCKEY MEN

The mighty Kookaburras flexed their muscles in the GC2018 men’s hockey competition, defeating a valiant Scottish team 6-1. The Kookas dominated from the start, scoring two quick goals in two minutes, and although the Scots fought bravely they were ultimately outclassed by a superior team. The result gives Australia two wins from two games, they next face Canada on Tuesday 10 April.

 

LAWN BOWLS

Australia’s Jackaroos men’s triples team of Barrie Lester, Nathan Rice and Aron Sherriff weren’t able to break a 4397 day Commonwealth Games gold medal drought today.

The trio were relegated to a silver medal by perennial powerhouse Scotland, who claimed the opening gold medal of the GC2018 Lawn Bowls competition this afternoon.

 

NETBALL

The Diamonds have recorded their third win of the Commonwealth Games, with a hard-fought 20-goal victory over South Africa.

Though the scoreline may not reflect it, the South Africans, coached by former Australian coach Norma Plummer, kept the Diamonds under pressure with a relentless defence.

Both Caitlin Thwaites and Susan Pettitt did not miss a goal, for the third time in a row.

The Australians must back it up with a 3.00pm match against Fiji on Monday.

Australia starting seven – GS: Caitlin Bassett, GA: Susan Pettitt, WA: Madi Robinson, C: Kim Ravaillion, WD: Gabi Simpson, GD: April Brandley, GK: Laura Geitz

Quarter by Quarter Score:

Q1: AUS 16 – RSA 9

Q2: AUS 30 – RSA 21

Q3: AUS 45 – RSA 28

Q4: AUS 60 – RSA 38

 

Shooting Statistics:

Caitlin Bassett 20/23 (87%)

Susan Pettitt 11/11 (100%)

Caitlin Thwaites 15/15 (100%)

Stephanie Wood  14/15 (93%)

 

SHOOTING

Dane Sampson started Australia’s #GC2018 shooting campaign with a bang, clinching gold in a tense final of the men’s 10m air rifle competition. Sampson prevailed with a score of 245.0, edging out Bangladeshi Abdullah Hel Baki (silver) and India’s Ravi Kumar (bronze), while 16-year-old Aussie Alex Hoberg narrowly missed the podium and finished fourth.

Elena Galiabovitch claimed bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol at the Commonwealth Games. Shooting in her first international final, Galiabovitch showed nerves of steel to snare Australia’s first shooting medal, scoring 214.9 points.

Victorian Aislin Jones reached the women’s skeet finals after qualifying with the second-highest score but was the first shooter eliminated. Fellow Australian and defending champion Laura Coles was eliminated in qualifying.

 

SWIMMING

13 medals won, including a smashing back-to-back trifecta in the men’s and women’s events. Emily Seebohm opened the night with a bronze medal win in the women’s 200m backstroke. Kaylee McKeown and Hayley Baker missed a podium finish, coming in fourth and sixth. It was then up to the men in the 100m freestyle where Kyle Chalmers swam a dead-heat for silver with South African Chad Le Clos. Cameron McEvoy finished behind the pair in fourth and Jack Cartwright took sixth place. The men then raised the bar as Jesse Aungles brought home the night’s first swimming gold in the men’s SM8 200m individual medley with Blake Cochrane nabbing the silver medal. Rohan Bright also competed, taking out sixth place. The Aussie women answered the call in the S9 100m freestyle with ‘Lucky’ Lakeisha Patterson moving up a class to dominate, winning the gold and achieving a personal best (PB) of 1:03.02. Ellie Cole took out the bronze, creating a PB of her own with 1:03.36. Emily Beecroft landed fourth place after a close race. Blair Evans and Meg Bailey both missed out on placing in the women’s 200m individual medley, finishing the race in fifth and eighth, respectively.

But it was the men’s 50m backstroke that provided Australia with its third trifecta in as many nights with Mitch Larkin winning gold, Benjamin Treffers winning silver and Zac Incerti rounding out the triple win with bronze. This win is another feather in Larkin’s swimming cap after also winning the 100m backstroke on Friday night. The women couldn’t let the men have all the glory, though, with a back-to-back Aussie trifecta produced in the women’s 50m butterfly. Led by golden girl Cate Campbell in first place, Holly Barrett took second with Madeline Groves hitting the wall just 0.02sec later to bring home the sweep. The final gold of a super Sunday session at the pool was won by the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay team of Chalmers, Mack Horton, Alexander Graham and Elijah Winnington, proving Australia’s dominance in the pool is not a short-lived event.

 

TABLE TENNIS

One of Australia’s main chances at a Commonwealth Games medal in table tennis, the Women’s Team have lost the bronze medal match, going down to England 3-1. Having lost their semifinal to Singapore in the morning, the Australian side were still feeling confident in defending their bronze medal from Glasgow 2014.

It was a long and gruelling match over two and a half hours, with some very close games contested by both sides. Dual Olympian/Paralympian Melissa Tapper began the match with a defeat 3-2, but the highlight of the team event today was match two, Australia’s Jian Fang Lay taking on Kelly Sibley. While a loss for Australia began that match, game two had spectators on the edge of their seats as a point-on-point showdown began, resulting in a 21-19 win to Lay. Lay was able to win the match, however when it came to the doubles, her and Miao Miao were unable to cement another defeat.

Miao Miao took centre stage at the court for the fourth and final match, with another tense nail-biting showdown. The final result for that match was 3-2.

 

WEIGHTLIFTING

In a titanic battle reminiscent of Friday night’s epic encounter in the women’s 60 kilogram class in the Weightlifting, with gold won by Tia-Claire Toomey, her teammate Pip Malone was an impressive 5th in the 69kg class this morning.

The Novocastrian in her first Commonwealth Games produced two excellent lifts before missing her third to be equal 3rd at 95kg at the halfway mark. Her overall total was only one kilogram away from her personal best with the gold medal won by India.

Stephanie Davies finished fifth in the women’s 75kg division, lifting 87kg in the snatch and 110kg in the clean and jerk.

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