Australia’s gold medal blitz has slowed during the second half of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, having now been surpassed by England on the medal tally. Australia has added six gold medals to their haul over the last few days as well as bumping up their collection of silver and bronze.
Day eight of the Games saw just one Aussie gold medal win, with Angela Ballard claiming victory in the para-1500m T54 event, finishing ahead of Canada’s Diane Roy and England’s Jade Jones. Struggling with a virus, Kurt Fearnley failed to defend his title, finishing second in the men’s event.
Defending champion Damon Kelly finished third in the over-105kg weightlifting event, ending with an overall total of 388kg behind the gold medallist George Kobaladze of Canada. Kelly’s teammate, Francois Etoundi, who also won a bronze medal, faced court on an assault charge just hours before Kelly’s event.
Australia’s Katrin Garfoot has won a bronze medal in the women’s cycling time-trial in the first of the road events at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. In the men’s road time-trial, Australia’s Rohan Dennis finished with the silver medal.
England edged out Australia in the women’s lawn bowls triples for the gold medal, leaving the Australian team with a silver. On day seven of the Games, Kim Mickle took gold for Australia in the women’s javelin, throwing a Games record of 65.19 metres with her second attempt and held that lead until the end.
Daniel Tranter produced a stunning late surge to win gold in the men’s 200m individual medley on the last day of the swimming program on day six while the Australian women’s 4x100m medley relay team blitzed ahead for gold in front of England and Canada.
In the shooting events, David Chapman claimed his first gold medal setting a new finals record in the men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event, while Adam Vell won the men’s single trap.
Australia now holds a total of 112 Commonwealth Games medals, 36 of those being gold. They trail behind England who have surged ahead to claim 44 gold out of a total of 123 medals. Canada have also surpassed host country Scotland for third place, winning 27 gold from a total of 65 medals while Scotland are still sitting on a new national record for Commonwealth Games medals, bringing the tally to 14 gold of a total 43.
Sally Pearson looks in a good position to bring home a gold in the finals of the 100m hurdles having defended her decision to show up late to a Commonwealth Games camp after blowing away the competition in the heats with a 12.69 second dash. Australian head coach Eric Hollingsworth was suspended and sent home after publicly criticising Pearson.
Also on day nine of the Games, the Hockeyroos will face off against South Africa in the semifinals, and the last day of gymnastics will conclude with more apparatus finals including Lauren Mitchell in the women’s floor event.
