The Mixed Relay triathlon has concluded in stunning fashion, with Aspen Anderson (QLD) powering from behind to deliver another gold medal for Australia, alongside teammate Jack Latham (TAS).
Oscar Wootton (VIC) and Hannah Pollock (QLD) also joined forces to finish in 4th place, recording a time of 42:32.
With expected difficult conditions, the call was made to shorten the course, seeing each athlete complete one leg of the race rather than the expected two.
Latham and Wootton took to the course first for their respective teams, before tagging in Anderson and Pollock to complete the route.
However, it was Anderson’s day as she pushed from behind, closing the gap from third in the bike leg to lead during the run, claiming her second gold medal 25sec ahead of the team from Scotland.
“I’m really happy with that race as we’ve both worked really hard for it. We had good conditions and it worked for us,” Anderson said.
“I had a bit to catch up on and riding out by myself was a bit hard, but it was fun to chase and push through.
“I was trying to keep my head up and I knew if I was pushing myself that I could pull it off.”
Latham noted the difficult conditions that again played a role in the race, talking to the mentality of working through them to deliver the win.
“They were great conditions out there, really hot and humid again just like Sunday but we did really well under the conditions and I’m so happy that we got the job done today,” Latham said.
“On the course, I tried to dig deep, physically and mentally, trust the process, and rely on not just myself but everyone around me.”
At Shaw Park, our rugby 7s team continued their undefeated run, eventuating in the gold medal match that saw them finish on top of the podium.
The girls, who concluded their pool matches earlier in the day after defeating Fiji 43-5, took on Canada in the gold medal match in front of a raucous crowd.
Determined to put on a show, they set the tone early with a try from Heidi Dennis (QLD) within the first 25sec, before Ava Wereta (QLD) followed through on a conversion.
From there the team controlled the play, finishing with a score of 50-0 to send Canada to silver while Fiji claimed bronze.
“It was such a good game, we really showed our sisterhood out there, played for each other, played for our family and played for ourselves, so it was really good,” Wereta said.
“This was definitely our best game, and all of our games were a bit challenging. We all had things we needed to work on each game and the final today tipped it off for us.”
It’s amazing, we’ve worked so hard and to finally get on the field together it’s awesome, the best feeling ever,” Piper Simons (NSW) said.
Over the road on the netball court, the Australian team opened their competition with two decisive wins, taking down Scotland 29-8 and then Canada 54-6 in their second match of the day.
Meanwhile on the volleyball courts, action resumed for the Australians with the quarterfinals taking place.
The women’s team of Rayner and Zajer defeated Scotland’s Cleeg-McKeown and Bell to book a ticket to the semi-finals, while the men’s duo of Rocker-Graham and Croft lost out to the English pair.
