By Selina Steele
Mollie O’Callaghan – a late scratching from the morning 50m backstroke heats – added to her medal tally on night four of the swimming program at Tollcross Stadium by anchoring the women’s 4x200m free relay team to victory in what was Australia’s seventh gold medal of the night.
Finishing in 7:42.53 – more than seven seconds ahead of silver placed England (7:50.10), and bronzed New Zealand (7:51.94), the crack Australian four – O O’Callaghan, Lani Pallister, Hannah Casey and Inez Miller, made it a perfect five starts for five golds in relays – with three relays to come.
O’Callaghan, already boasting a 200m freestyle gold and 4x100m freestyle relay gold at these Games, had picked up a silver in the women’s 100m freestyle earlier in the night.
“So stoked to see how well the whole Australian team is going at this meet … I am being asked if this is one of the best Australian teams I have been on and I would have to say it’s up there,” O’Callaghan said.
“It really shows how much we care about not just the Commonwealth Games but each other in the way that we lift. In particular, our rookies have really lifted and I am just so proud.
The 22-year-old only had eyes on helping the Dolphins secure their seventh gold of the night and 23rd of the meet – just two shy of the record 25 gold haul from Birmingham. The night also featured:
- A barnstorming Sam Short (7:39.81) claimed the 800m free title, the latest leg in a distance sweep. This makes it three gold after claiming the 400m free and 4x200m free relay. The 22-year-old touched the wall ahead of fellow Dolphins Benjamin Goedemans (7:46.49) and Matthew Galea (7:47.10), to mark the second clean sweep of the night.
- Lady Fly Alex Perkins celebrated her 26th birthday with a win in the 100m butterfly final in 56.38, her fourth gold after winning the 50m fly; 4x100m free, mixed 4x100m free. Brittany Castelluzzo and Lizzy Dekkers finished fourth (47.40) and seventh (59.28) respectively.
- Sam Williamson continuing his dream fairytale comeback by adding the 50m breaststroke title to the 100m gold that announced his return from injury with a slick 26.50.
- Accidental gold-medal backstroker Jenna Forester was right at home in her signature event the Women’s 400m individual medley (IM) in 4:31.19, adding a gold to a growing medal haul this week from her gold from the 200m backstroke and bronze from the 400m freestyle. Ella Ramsay claimed her first Commonwealth Games medal, winning bronze medal in 4:37.12 with Games debutant Tara Kinder placing fifth in 4:42.08.
- Harrison Turner and Matt Temple contested the Men’s 200m Butterfly and in a close finish claimed silver and bronze in 1:55.38 and 1:55.45. New Zealand’s Lewis Clareburt won gold in 1:55.05.
But the night belonged to the freestyle queens.
Meg Harris took the crown in the women’s 100m freestyle marking her first individual Commonwealth gold in 52.90, the result continuing Australia’s dominance of an event that has produced some of the nation’s most iconic swimming moments.
Harris’s victory notched up Australia’s seventh gold in a row for the event at the Games, a history started by Jodie Henry in 2002 Manchester.
Night Four also delivered the following headlines:
GET OUT THE BROOM:
Harris led a clean sweep of the medals in the women’s 100 freestyle, leading a triumvirate of Dolphins that included O’Callaghan in silver (53.25) and a John Farnham-esque farewell tour by Shayna Jack for bronze (53.38).
IS HE RELAY SERIOUS?
Whispers abound that Dolphins head coach Rohan Taylor has threatened to try celebrated local dish deep-fried haggis should Australia win all eight relays on the program, five are now ticked off, three to go.
GOLD CLASS:
We have a new Commonwealth Champion in Beau Matthews who claimed his first Games gold in the SB9 100m breaststroke (1:09.41), alongside teammate and hero champion from last night’s 100m backstroke S9, Tim Hodge SB8 (1:12.74) who won bronze. In the Women’s SB8 100m breaststroke, Alyssa Gillespie and Gemma Sellick finished fourth (1:32.80) and fifth respectively (1:33.95).
WHAT TO LOOK FORWARD TO:
Kyle Chalmers and Flynn Southam, qualified with the top two quickest times (47.87 and 48.08) and advance through the men’s 100m freestyle semi-finals, for tomorrow’s final.
Sienna Toohey moves through as the fastest qualifier (30.58) in the women’s 50m breaststroke.
And Iona Anderson, fresh off gold in last night’s 100m backstroke, and Hannah Fredericks progressed through the women’s 50m backstroke semi-finals as second and eight fastest qualifiers.
Tonight’s pool efforts added seven gold, three silver and five bronze to Australia’s growing tally, marking 49 medals over for the Dolphins.
