Commonwealth Games: Bronte Campbell wins 100m freestyle, beating sister Cate on a big night in the pool for Australia
Updated
Bronte Campbell has finally got one over her sister Cate in Australia's most glittering sibling rivalry, pipping her in a spectacular women's 100m freestyle final at the Commonwealth Games.
Bronte Campbell was third at the halfway mark with Cate leading alongside Canada's Taylor Ruck, but a perfect surge at the 75m mark saw the younger sibling finally claim some individual glory in a Commonwealth Games record of 52.27 seconds.
The younger Campbell won by 0.42 seconds, coming home with a split of 26.80 seconds to cause a big upset in a personal best time.
Earlier, Ariarne Titmus lived up to her billing with a relentless win in the women's 800m freestyle, streaking clear of the field in an incredible swim.
In yet another Australian trifecta, Jessica Ashwood finished in second, seven seconds behind Titmus's 8:20.02, while Kiah Melverton nabbed the bronze.
The 17-year-old Titmus stormed out of the blocks and kept extending her lead.
By the time she hit the 700m mark, she had a six-second break on her teammate Ashwood, and she maintained her rhythm to cruise to her second gold of the Commonwealth Games.
Titmus, who was part of the winning women's 4x200m freestyle relay team and won silver in the 200m freestyle, will also compete in the 400m freestyle heats tomorrow.
"I wanted to go a bit quicker, but a meet like this is about racing," Titmus said.
"Sometimes at these big meets it's not the fastest times, but I'm happy to be the first person to get my hand on the wall."
The defending champion, Wales' Jazz Carlin — who was her country's flagbearer in last week's opening ceremony — was unable to stay with the pace, finishing sixth in a time of 8:37.45.
Mitch Larkin completed an incredible backstroke treble, taking out the men's 200m event to claim Commonwealth gold for Australia on night five on the Gold Coast.
Larkin, who had already claimed 50m and 100m Commonwealth titles, became the first man in history to complete the backstroke triple.
His time of 1:56.10 consigned compatriots Bradley Woodward and Josh Beaver to second and third place respectively as the Aussies swept the podium.
Woodward led for most of the race before being overtaken by Larkin in the final 50 — he took silver in 1:56.57, ahead of teammate Beaver (1:57.04).
"It's unbelievable, words can't describe it. You train so hard, you put so much effort into it," Larkin said after the race.
"This medal represents so much more, those laps in the pool and all of the up and downs. You hear the crowd roar, it makes it all worthwhile."
Larkin's win in the pool added to earlier successes on day five, with gold medals in gymnastics, lawn bowls and athletics.
There was another win in the men's S7 50m freestyle, with Australia's Matthew Levy taking out the para-sport event in a time of 28.60, ahead of Christian Sadie of South Africa (29.65) and Singapore's Wei Soong Toh (29.83).
Paige Leonhardt pushed Paralympic superstar Sophie Pascoe all the way in the women's SB9 100m breaststroke final. The Australian took silver behind the New Zealand champion, and Leonhardt's teammate Madeleine Scott finished with the bronze.
Laura Taylor and Emma McKeon could not rein in Wales' Alys Thomas who hit an exemplary pace in the women's 200m butterfly final.
McKeon and Taylor exchanged turns in setting the pace in the first 100m, only for Thomas to explode in the second half and win comfortably in Commonwealth-record time at 2:05.45, nearly two full seconds ahead of silver medallist Taylor.
Grant Irvine came in third in the men's 100m butterfly decider with Chad le Clos proving too hot to handle as the South African made it three golds for his country, ahead of second-placed James Guy of England.
Hat-trick for van den Burgh in 50 breaststroke
There was a big result for South Africa in the 50m breaststroke final, with Cameron van der Burgh edging out English stars Adam Peaty and James Wilby to take the title, in a Commonwealth record time at 26.58 seconds.
Van den Burgh was up against the world record holder in Peaty, but he managed to come through when it counted to touch the wall first, clinching his third straight Commonwealth title in the event.
Soon afterwards, South African Tatjana Schoenmaker doubled up on her 200m title to win the women's 100m breaststroke final, ahead of Canada's Kierra Smith and Australian hopeful Georgia Bohl.
Her victory was South Africa's fifth overall gold in the pool at the Gold Coast Games, followed later by Le Clos making it six for the meet.
O'Hanlon wins Australia's first gold on the track
Evan O'Hanlon provided Australia with its first gold medal in track events via a convincing victory in the men's T38 100 metres final.
O'Hanlon, a five-time Paralympic gold medallist, streaked across the finish line in 11.09 seconds before dramatically losing his footing and falling to the ground.
Australian teammate Samuel Walker was sixth in 11.80.
O'Hanlon had looked to retire after the Rio Paralympics, but he was inspired to continue after losing his Paralympic title and 100m T38 world record to China's Hu Jianwen.
He redoubled his efforts to compete on home soil on the Gold Coast, and his victory was never really in doubt after a stunning start off the blocks.
Australia's Damien Birkenhead missed out on a podium finish in the men's shot put final after placing fifth with a best effort of 20.77m.
New Zealand's world champion Tom Walsh won gold, with his 21.41m enough to seal the victory.
Celia Sullohern produced a spirited performance to be the best-placed Australian in sixth in the women's 10,000m final via a personal best time of 31:50.75.
Uganda's Stella Chesang was triumphant in 31:45.30.
Big day for Australia's gymnasts
It was an excellent day for the artistic gymnastics home team at Coomera. In the final gymnastics event on day five, Sydney-sider Alexandra Eade took out the floor exercise apparatus final.
The 20-year-old did not have the most difficult routine in the event, but she delivered an error-free program that had the crowds cheering in the stands, as Eade scored 13.333 in the final.
Welsh gymnast Latalia Bevan had better execution but a less difficult routine, finishing .033 back in the silver medal position.
Earlier, Christopher Remkes produced a consistent performance to win the gold on men's vault, Australia's first in the event at the Commonwealth Games since Bret Hudson at Victoria in Canada in 1994.
The 21-year-old Remkes — who was born in the Philippines — delivered the second and third-best vaults of the competition with his first and second attempts.
His total of 14.799 was enough to keep him ahead of England's Courtney Tulloch, who nailed his second vault with a score of 15.000, but whose first vault was only 14.333, leaving his total score on 14.666.
Tulloch's countryman Dominick Cunningham took the bronze with a total of 14.333.
Remkes finished sixth in Sunday's men's pommel horse final.
The gymnastics medals did not stop there, as Georgia-Rose Brown — who finished fifth behind Eade in the floor exercise — won a silver medal on the balance beam apparatus.
Brown's performance earned her a score of 13.066 points, just ahead of English bronze medallist Kelly Simm (13.033). But she was unable to match Simm's teammate, Alice Kinsella, who scored 13.700 to take the gold.
Another Australian, Emily Whitehead came fifth with a score of 12.500.
Women's fours grab gold over South Africa
The Australian women's fours lawn bowls team — skipper Natasha Scott, Kelsey Cottrell, Carla Krizanic and Rebecca Van Asch — defeated South Africa 18-16 in a see-sawing contest at Broadbeach.
The home team went behind early, trailing 3-0 after two ends, but the team hit back to lead 9-3 after six ends.
The momentum swung the other way once again, with the South African team of skip Elma Davis, Esme Kruger, Nicolene Neal and Johanna Snyman hitting the front at 10-9 after taking two shots on the ninth end.
They held the lead only momentarily, however, and Australia pulled ahead 15-12 after the 13th end, before taking three shots on the next end to ensure victory.
There was silver for Australia in weightlifting, as Kaity Fassina came close to grabbing gold in the women's 90kg class.
Fassina led the competition after the snatch with a lift of 104kg, but Fiji's Eileen Cikamatana hoisted 130kg in the clean and jerk to take the title with a total of 233kg over Fassina's 232.
Topics: sport, commonwealth-games, carrara-4211, qld, australia
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