Caster Semenya cruised to 1500m gold on the track, Australia had a remarkable day in the pool and Isaac Makwala won the men’s 400m title
Medal table – the latest tallies from the 2018 Games
In pictures – best images from day six of the Games
Semenya storms to 1500m title at Commonwealth Games
I’m off, thanks for joining me today. Here is the report on the athletics, with Martha Kelner report on England’s disappointing day (save Proud) to follow.
Personal highlights for me was Malawi’s dramatic win over Scotland in the women’s basketball and that remarkable men’s 4 x 100m medley relay final, where Australia came roaring back in the final leg to pip England at the wall and take gold.
See you next time. Bye!
Name of the Games Award goes to Nigerian basketball player God’sgift Achiuwa, who was involved earlier as Scotland beat the African nation 66-61 in a thriller to reach the Commonwealth semi-finals. This is the line up for the men’s semi-finals, then.
Austraila v Scotland
New Zealand v Canada
The final live action of the day six is now over, after Australia beat Scotland 2-0 in their Pool B game. That result means that Australia top the group, and will face India in the semi-finals. New Zealand also progress, while that defeat for Scotland means that they are out.
Wales’s 11-year-old table tennis prodigy, who beat Uganda’s Halima Nambozo in her opening group match, is out of the women’s singles after losing Malaysia’s Li Sian Alice Chang. She’ll have a few memories to take back to school though.
It’s a disappointing day for England, if we’re honest. Ben Proud was of course the highlight with his gold, but Andrew Pozzi never got going in the 110m hurdle final after hitting the first barrier, and Sophie Hitchon – the favourite to win gold in the women’s hammer throw – fouled three times and was disqualified.
There were encouraging displays in the boxing. Luke McCormack, Pat McCormack, Galal Yafai, Peter McGrail, Cheavon Clarke, and Fraser Clarke all moved into their respective semi-finals. The same was true for England in the men’s beach volleyball after Chris Gregory and Jake Sheaf saw off Scotland in their quarter-finals.
I wonder how much Ben Proud’s earlier efforts in winning the men’s 50m freestyle gold (ridiculously that was the only gold that Australia didn’t win today in the pool out of 10 finals) affected that last leg in the men’s 4 x 100m medley relay final. He surely would have had lactic acid in those legs, and Kyle Chalmers is not the man you want chasing you down. Proud is a 50m man and that last 50m would have hurt. Ultimately it told, with Chalmers pipping Proud for the gold.
Gold for South Africa! In the end, it was easy, Semenya winning by over two-and-a-half seconds with a time of 4:00:71, which is a new personal best!
Beatrice Chepkoech wins the silver for Kenya, and Wales’s Melissa Courtney moves past Australia’s Linden Hall to snatch bronze! Courtney judged that to perfection! Semenya looks calm and shakes the hand of each of her rivals, with the exception of Jessica Judd, who needed to be carried off the track from exhaustion.
Semenya gets into her stride on the back straight of the final lap! Surely she’ll kick on now for the gold …
Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech leads after two laps, Semenya is nestled back in fifth place, just on the outside of the pack. Australia’s Linden Hall is second. Two laps to go.
And we’re off!
Semenya and co have now been waiting on the track for about five minutes, as Australian officials scramble to get the gun working again. This surely isn’t good for the athletes as temperatures drop for the final race of this evening. Semenya is of course mainly an 800m/400m runner and this is a fairly new race for her. Other contenders for the gold like Wales’s Melissa Courtney, Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech and Scottish pair Stephanie Twell and Eilish McColgan will want to go out hard to try and build a lead before Semenya’s final two laps.
It’s stopped raining at the Carrara Stadium, but there are still some puddles out on the track as Caster Semenya and the rest of the field in the women’s 1500m final. The athletes are on the line, but the electronic starting gun isn’t working!
The final swimming race of the Games, and it’s an absolutely stunning finish! England had just over a half-second lead over Australia going into the final leg with Ben Proud anchoring the race, but he couldn’t hold off Kyle Chalmers – the Olympic 100m freestyle champion in Rio – who swam 47.25 – to help break the Commonwealth Games record in this event. There was just nine-hundreths of a second between Chalmers and Proud at the wall, but the Australian got there first to send the home crowd bananas. Hats off to the Aussies, that was a magnificent comeback and Chalmers really used the crowd’s energy to his advantage. South Africa took bronze, and Scotland had a brilliant swim to finish fourth.
Back to the track, and it’s a Botwana 1-2 in the final! Makwala went out like a train – he’s a sub-20 second runner in the 200m – and kept going around the bend to win comfortably. His team-mate Baboloki Thebe pips Jamaica’s Javon Francis to silver. Remember there is no Kirani James here, so that made Makwala’s job a lot easier, but he will still be delighted with that medal after what happened at the World Championships last year.
That caps an outstanding meet for Australia, Bronte Campbell blowing Canada’s Taylor Ruck away in the final length! Wales take the bronze! That’s five seconds off their national record! Great stuff.
Canada and Australia neck and neck going into the fourth leg! Alys Thomas is having a brilliant swim for Wales, who are hanging onto third!
Back to the pool now, for the final women’s swimming final: the 4 x 100m medley relay final. South Africa, Scotland, England, Australia, Canada, Wales, Isle of Man, New Zealand make up the lanes. World-record holder Kylie Masse of Canada leads the first leg, Australia half a second behind in second and Wales in third!
Have a look at all the best images from day six in our gallery.
Kurt Fearnley picks up his silver medal for the T54 1500m, with a huge roar going up from the home crowd as the athletes go up onto the podium. Congratulations to Canada’s Alexandre Dupont, who held Fearnley off down the home straight.
“Kurt Fearnley is a legend in wheelchair racing,” emails Chris Page. “He was a constant thorn in the side of David Weir. To go into retirement with a Commonwealth Silver in such a tight race, he has to be satisfied with what he’s achieved over 18 years of racing with greats such as Weir, Heinz Frei and Marcel Hug.”
Julia Ratcliffe takes it down, her score of 68.94m enough to see of Australia’s Alexandra Hulley. Australia’s Lara Nielson takes the bronze. Ratcliffe is in tears as she runs over to her coach in the crowd. Lord knows how Sophie Hitchon is feeling right now after she fouled out in the second round.
Nigeria’s fourth powerlifting gold as Abdulazeez Ibrahim manages 220kg to secure a score of 191.9 points. Malaysia’s Jong Yee Khie takes the silver and India’s Sachin Chaudhary won bronze.
Dan Jervis pushed Australian Jack McLoughlin all the way in the final two lengths, but couldn’t quite reach the wall for the gold. Still, that is an absolutely magnificent race from the Welshman, knocking three seconds off his personal best with a time of 14:48:67. Australia’s Mack Horton takes the bronze.
Part-time painter and decorator Jervis talks to the cameras:
I’ll be back in four years to win the gold. I hope, anyway. Fair play to Jack, he had a great swim. I was dying, to be fair! When you’re underwater, you can hear the roar of the crowd, there’s 10,000 people in here. It was so much fun. The main aim was to win a medal, and to make my mum and dad proud, as well as my beautiful girlfriend. The only reason I do this is to make them proud.”
Good talker, great swimmer.
The rain is now lashing down at the Carrara Stadium! Absolutely bucketing it down. The first of the three semi-finals for the women’s 400m are underway. Scotland’s Zoey Clark – Britain’s No 1 in this event – can only manage fourth in the first head, with Jamaica’s Anastasia Le-Roy and Botswana’s Amantle Montsho into the final with the two automatic spots.
Big shock in the women’s hammer throw final, as England Sophie Hitchon – bronze medallist at Rio 2016 and the hot favourite for gold here – has fouled three times (the last finding the left edge of the net) and is out of the final! She is absolutely furious with herself, and while there were tears at her disappointing seventh-placed finish at the World Championships last year, there are none here. She stomps off, in an understandable huff.
New Zealand’s Julia Ratcliffe is currently leading with a throw of 68.60m after the second round, 40cm ahead of the Australian Alexandrea Hulley. To put that into context, Hitchon’s record throw is 74.54m.
Great scenes in the athletics stadium as Madison de Rozario collects her gold medal for her T54 1500m final triumph. With eye-catching silver hair and a smile as wide as the podium, she looks absolutely buzzing as the Australian national anthem blares out around the stadium. That will taste especially sweet after the last Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where she got a 40cm blood clot on the flight over from Australia to Scotland and ended up in hospital, unable to compete.
“Scotland’s Sammi Kinghorn was in contention for bronze,” emails Chris Page. “Fourth is no disgrace in such a strong field. Thirty years of studying wheelchair racing tells me that if Sammi stays fit and continues on her current trajectory, she will be a serious prospect at Tokyo 2020.”
Australia have having a silly Games in the pool aren’t they? Lakeisha Patterson absolutely decimates the field in the women’s S8 50m freestyle final, a full two seconds clear of her nearest challenger, Canada’s Morgan Bird, who takes the silver. Abigail Tripp takes the bronze, she was comfortably third.
Meanwhile, it’s an Australian 1-2-3 in the men’s S9 100m backstroke final! Brendan Hall followed by Timothy Hodge and then Logan Powell.
Wow! Drama in the triple jump: Jamaica’s Shanieka Ricketts has been leading for the entire event but then on her last jump, Jamaica’s Kimperly Williams lays down 14.64m – a new lifetime best to snatch the gold medal from her team-mate! Ricketts has one final opportunity but can’t better Williams, who wins the gold by 12cm. Both Jamaican’s embrace, with Williams understandably delighted. She sets off on a victory lap around the stadium, the green-and-gold flat flying high. Thea Lafond of Dominica takes bronze.
Wales’s Ben Gregory wins the final event – the 1500m – but it is Lindon Victor that wins the overall decathlon with 8303 points, jogging over the finish line a few seconds after Lepage. Canada have won the last two men’s Commonwealth titles but Lepage can only manage silver although he does finish with a life-time best score of 8171, with Australia’s Dubler taking bronze, plenty of cheers from the home crowd for that one.
Grenada’s Lindon Victor leads the decathlon, a surprise leader of 170, which equates to a 26-second advantage into the final event – the 1500m - over his nearest challenger, Canada’s Pierce Lepage. Surely that is enough for the gold medal. Australia’s Cedric Dubler is in third. As they set off, Victor is at the back of the field, not because he’s tiring, simply because he wants to have his rivals in front of him, where he can see them, and accelerate if necessary.
That’s a shock result, and no fairytale send-off for Australia’s Kurt Fearnley in his last ever track race. Canada’s Alexandre Dupont took it out on the back straight. He went on the outside to stay on as Fearnley tried to flash home. Australia’s Jake Lappin took bronze, while England’s Richard Chiassaro faded to the back after attempting to take it out from the start.
In the women’s triple jump, it’s the end of the third round, the cut-off point for four jumpers, leaving eight to have three more jumps. Thea Lafond from Dominica can’t improve on her third place despite a slight improvement to 13.92m. Shaneika Richards of Jamaica on 14.52 leads compatriot Kimberley Williams on 14.34 in the hunt for gold, which is a reversal of the pre-meet predictions.
Mitch Larkin takes gold, his fourth of the games, by a fingernail from Scotland’s Duncan Scott who was flying home the final freestyle leg and has to be satisfied with his sixth medal of the meet. That was close. Clyde Lewis takes bronze for Australia.
A front-running gold from Madison de Rozario, who destroyed the field. A 1-2 for Australia, in fact, with defending champ Angela Ballard getting silver. Back in bronze is Diane Roy, the veteran at 47.
Back in athletics, two Jamaicans lead the way in the women’s triple jump final. Shanieka Ricketts leads the way after laying down a season’s best score of 14.52m in front of her team-mate Kimberly Williams and Thea Lafond of Dominica.
John Brewin is jumping in the blog for the next 20 minutes or so. See you in a bit.
Emily Seebohm beats Canada’s Kylie Masse to the gold! Ooooof, that was close! Wales’s Georgia Davies comes through to take the bronze in front of Australia’s Holly Barratt. Just 0.18secs separated the first four swimmers there. That is Australia’s 300th swimming gold medal in the Commonwealth Games.
Ben Proud defends his Commonwealth Games title! He won by half a second in front of South Africa’s Bradley Tandy and Australia’s Cameron McEvoy! Medals coming thick and fast in the athletics and swimming.
Ronald Levy wins! Silver for Jamaica’s Hansle Parchment and Australia’s Nicholas Hough gets a surprise bronze in the outside lane, just pipping the Cypriot Milan Trajkovic to a place on the podium! Pozzi was nowhere, he hit the first hurdle and never recovered!
The men’s 110m hurdle final is just about to start. England’s Andrew Pozzi goes in lane four, with his two main rivals either side of him: Jamaica’s De’Jour Russell and Hansle Parchment, with Jamaica’s Ronald Levy in land seven. Here we go!
Titmus wins the women’s 400m gold in the swimming in a time of 4:00:93, which knocks four seconds of the Commonwealth Games record! Silver for England’s Holly Hibbott and England’s Eleanor Faulker is third!
We go now to the pool, for the women’s 400m final. Australia’s Ariarne Titmus is the overwhelming favourite – the 17-year-old won the women’s 800m final yesterday.
It’s a clean start and Titmus has gone off quickly. England’s Holly Hibbott is second and Eleanor Faulker is third. Titmus is already two body lengths clear at the 200m mark.
England have been defeated 97-79 by Canada in the men’s basketball qualifying final. Canada progress to the semi-finals.
Earlier, Ali Jawad won men’s lightweight bronze, whilst Zoe Newson won bronze in the women’s lightweight final.
“Ali is a contender for Celebration of The Games, cartwheeling around the stage,” emails Chris Page. “It’s all the more remarkable because he’s been dealing with Crohn’s disease since Rio. And Zoe’s power-to-weight ratio is epic considering she has dwarfism. Well done to both!”
I'm truly lost for words. It was a miracle to even get her, but to come away with a medal is beyond everything I expected. 18 months battling Crohn's disease, thinking my career was over. Thank you to everyone that wished me support. It means the world to me. pic.twitter.com/OPUQQaLFRu
— Ali Jawad (@AliJawad12) April 10, 2018
Huge Congratulations to DSAuk member @Zoenewson92 in becoming a Commonwealth Games bronze medalist at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 🥉🇦🇺 #DSAmazing pic.twitter.com/lYS901bU8H
— DSAUK (@dwarfsportDSAuk) April 10, 2018
England’s Sophie Hitchon is arguably the favourite to win gold in the women’s hammer in the final later. She threw a new British record of 74.54m at Rio 2016 to win a historic bronze there, becoming the first British woman to win a medal in this event. However, she did not have a great World Championships last year, finishing seventh, so certainly has a point to prove today.