By Aidan Davis
Australia has claimed its first Commonwealth Games gold medal in more than 12 years, with Kelsey Cottrell, Carla Krizanic, Rebecca Van Asch and Natasha Scott’s names now forever etched into the sport’s annals.
The quartet have broken 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 Jackaroos trailed in the early stages of the match, before powering to a 6 shot lead after 6 ends, when South Africa mounted their comeback, claiming 4 shots on the seventh, and eventually stealing the lead on the ninth end with 2 shots, with Australia’s golden girls responding strongly with 3 shots on the next to claw back the lead and take the rest in their stride.
“The crowd here was absolutely amazing, Ive never played in front of a crowd like this, it definitely helped us the whole series,” Kriaznic said after prevailing.
“We owe them a lot.
“I never imagined how loud the crowd would be here and I think it really helped boost us, we’ve had so many close games along the way and I think they really got us over the line so we have a lot to thank them for.
“We got a good start and they pegged back closer to us but we’ve been in that position in a lot of games so we had faith in each other and confidence that we could get over the line when it counted.
“We’ll enjoy this moment and then get straight back into it this afternoon and put our heads down and our bums up,” Krizanic said.
It’s the first gold medal for Australia since the Melbourne 2006 Games, where it secured three gold, one silver and one bronze from six disciplines.
Australia now has one gold and one silver, courtesy of the men’s triples, to their name so far, from four disciplines.
It’s a fitting result for the quartet, who are now the defending world fours champions and Commonwealth Games winners.
There won’t be much opportunity for the the team to enjoy the celebrations, however, with Cottrell, Scott and Van Asch uniting again this evening for the start of the women’s triples sectional rounds, against India from 4.00pm.
