An amazing night of track and field has capped off Australia’s golden day at the Bahamas 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games, with athletes claiming two gold, two silver and two bronze medals.
The day got off to fine start when Australia’s Rugby 7s team swept past Canada to claim gold with a 31-5 win.
It was then on to Thomas Robinson Stadium where 16-year old Sydneysider Alexander Kolesnikoff produced a mighty 19.76 metre round five throw to snatch victory from New Zealand’s Nicholas Palmer.
The gold rush continued when Bendere Oboya edged out teammate Ella Connolly to claim gold in the women’s 400m, setting a new personal best time of 52.69. Connolly also set a new benchmark with her 52.72.
Long jumper Ben Schmidtchen posted two new personal bests and looked the winner when he posted a jump of 7.64 metres, but was relegated to silver in the dying rounds by Antigua and Barbuda’s Sheldon Noble.
Four Australian’s – Keely Small, Carley Thomas, Jordan Doris and Jackson Sharp – qualified for the finals in the 800m events, to be run tomorrow evening, while Tiana Death and Lateisha Willis qualified for the finals of the 100m hurdles. Sebastian Moir won a berth in the 400m hurdles final.
Riley Day, Ella Connolly and Yandin Ngeng won through to the semi’s in the 200m.
In the pool, Sophie Caldwell recorded a second personal best for the day in the 400m freestyle to claim a bronze medal. Brittany Castelluzzo and Charlie Cox both finished the night with personal bests in the 100m butterfly, finishing fifth.
Four of Australia’s boxers have advanced into the medal bouts, as Tiki Fraser claimed bronze in the 75kg women’s division.
Earlier in the day, Australia’s women’s beach volleyball team progressed through to the gold medal match against New Zealand, while their male counterparts will play off for bronze.