Flora Competing in the bright morning sun, Duffy cruised to victory by 43 seconds over Jessica Learmonth and had time to grab a Bermuda flag as she completed the sprint distance. (Source: Reuters)
Sally Pearson played the role of courteous host, fulfilling a commitment at the welcome party and waiting until competition started before revealing she was withdrawing from the Commonwealth Games.
The world champion hurdler was raised on the Gold Coast and still lives and trains there, so had been the obvious choice for organizers as the promotional face of the games.
Pearson waited until two-time world champion Flora Duffy won the first gold medal of the games _ a sprint triathlon held in perfect morning conditions on the picturesque Broadwater _ before appearing at a news conference with the head coach and doctor of the Australian track and field team.
A long-term Achilles injury flared up earlier in the week and Pearson knew the day before the opening ceremony that she wouldn’t be able to compete at her hometown games, but kept it pretty much secret.
“The timing was not great and she certainly didn’t want it to detract from the games or the opening ceremony or anyone else’s journey here,” coach Craig Hilliard said. “I think that’s important to realize. So today was the most convenient,” to make it public.
There was early drama at the pool when English swimmer Ben Proud was disqualified after winning his first heat, and that came after the first men’s medal of the games went to Malaysian weightlifter Muhammad Izhar Ahmad.
Some highlights on Day 1 of competition:
FIRST GOLD: Competing in the bright morning sun, Duffy cruised to victory by 43 seconds over Jessica Learmonth and had time to grab a Bermuda flag as she completed the sprint distance.
“Pretty cool that I won the first gold medal of these games,” she said. It was entirely expected, given she’s a two-time world champion.
Canadian Joanna Brown, who fractured her shoulder in a race last month, earned bronze after a tight tussle over the closing meters with England’s Vicky Holland.
The men’s race was far from predictable. South Africa’s Henri Schoeman broke away early in the run leg to finish in 52 minutes, 31 seconds and beat Jacob Birtwhistle of Australia by seven seconds. Marc Austin of Scotland took the bronze.
Two-time Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee and his brother Jonathan finished 1-2 in Glasgow four years ago but were well out of the medals this time. Alistair, who had surgery on his hip last August, placed 10th in an afternoon race hit by rain.
“It was pretty terrible today,” said Jonathan Brownlee, who was seventh. “From start to finish I didn’t feel great.”
WEIGHT LIFTED: Izhar Ahmad won the first of the men’s gold medals, lifting a games record total of 261 kilograms in the 56-kilogram category one day after his birthday.
His 144 in the clean and jerk secured the record and an unbeatable lead, then he celebrated with a dance and a jog around the lifting area with the Malaysian flag.
Gururaja Poojary picked up silver for India, missing two attempts before a successful last lift that relegated Sri Lanka’s Chaturanga Lakmal into third spot.
“I had to lift it to win that medal … if I had not done that, would have washed out of the competition totally,” Poojary said.
India collected its first gold medal when Chanu Saikhom Mirabai won the women’s 48-kilogram competition in a games record.
PROUD OUT: World champion Proud was disqualified from the 50-meter butterfly after winning his morning race in the preliminaries.
The Englishman, the defending champion in the 50 butterfly and freestyle, touched first in his preliminary heat by nearly a body length but was disqualified after the race when the referee ruled that he’d moved on the blocks before the start.
“I am in the shape of my life and am gutted to miss out on the opportunity to show what I can do,” said Proud, who lost an appeal against the disqualification. “With (thousands of) fans in the crowd, I wanted to give them something to cheer about by delivering a fast time.
“I really wanted to come into the competition to retain both my titles and to have that opportunity taken away in the first heat is heartbreaking.”
11 YEARS YOUNG
Anna Hursey made her Commonwealth Games debut at the age of 11, and drew plenty of attention as the youngest athlete competing at the Gold Coast.
With Wales needing a win to stay alive in its opening round against India, Hursey partnered Charlotte Carey and produced some big forehands to help in 3-2 victory.
The game was part of the table tennis team event, a best-of-five series, which Wales lost 3-1 against one of the medal favorites.
WOMEN IN PURSUIT: Australia set a games record to move into the gold-medal race in the women’s pursuit against New Zealand at the Anna Meares Velodrome in Brisbane.
The Australian quartet set a time of 4 minutes, 17:218 seconds. New Zealand had a fractionally faster time than Canada, which will race England for bronze.