GLASGOW: England’s Jodie Stimpson won the opening gold of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Thursday on a day when the multi-sport event was hit by the withdrawal of athletics legend Mo Farah.
Stimpson, a silver medal winner in the World Triathlon Series in 2013, sprinted clear with 400 metres remaining of the final 10km run to win a thrilling race that started with a 1.5km swim in and a 40km cycle.
Canada’s Kirsten Sweetland claimed silver, with England’s Vicky Holland taking bronze in warm, sunny conditions.
“I was nervous about the swim but I had an awesome swim actually,” said Stimpson. “The race was brutal and the bike was definitely a challenge. It was important to be aware and sensible.”
In an enthralling finish at the Strathclyde Country Park, the 25-year-old Stimpson managed to pull away from Sweetland to finish in one hour 58 minutes 56 seconds.
In the men’s event later on Thursday, Alistair Brownlee continued England’s golden start with a dominant display.
Olympic champion Brownlee, 24, duelled with younger brother Jonathan for much of the race but pulled away when he upped the pace over the last five kilometres to take the gold.
Brownlee brothers bet on sibling rivalry for medal push at Games
He crossed the finish line in one hour 48 minutes 50 seconds at the Strathclyde Country Park, 11 seconds ahead of his sibling. South Africa’s Richard Murray finished strongly to take bronze.
Action got underway also in the pool where top home hope for a gold medal, Michael Jamieson was upstaged by countryman Ross Murdoch in qualifying for the 200 metres breaststroke final.
Murdoch smashed the Commonwealth Games record by over two seconds in a time of 2mins 08.78secs with Jamieson and Calum Tait completing an all-Scottish top three in qualifying.
“Watching the crowd go wild and I just wanted that for myself and we did it, so it is something that I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” said the 20-year-old Murdoch.
Scotland’s Hannah Miley also had the home crowd in raptures in the first heat of the event by breaking her own Commonwealth record in the women’s 400m individual medley in a time of 4mins 38.27 secs.
Christian Sprenger of Australia competes in the men’s 200m breaststroke heat at Tollcross International Swimming Centre on Thursday. Sprenger finished third.—AFP |
Commonwealth Games record times were tumbling all morning at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre as Jamaica’s Ali Atkinson went fastest in the women’s 50m breaststroke in a Games record time of 30.49secs.
The immediacy of the action took some of the sting out of Farah’s withdrawal which rocked the Games just as they got underway.
The 5,000 and 10,000 metres Olympic champion, 31, was recently laid low by illness and has decided to pull out of the Games in order to work on his fitness ahead of next month’s European Championships in Zurich.
“I have taken the tough decision to withdraw from the Commonwealth Games, “Farah said in a statement released by Team England.
At the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, Bradley Wiggins returned to track cycling for the first time since 2008 at the Commonwealth Games and helped inspire England to the final of the men’s 4000m Team Pursuit.
England will battle it out with fierce rivals Australia, who set the fastest time in qualifying, for the chance to claim gold. Canada and New Zealand will face up to each other in the bronze medal event.
England’s Jason Kenny, the current Olympic sprint champion, scraped into the quarter-finals of the men’s sprint after claiming a place through a first round repechage along with compatriot Matthew Crampton.
They will join New Zealand trio Sam Webster, Matthew Archibald and Eddie Dawkins, Australians Matthew Glaetzer and Peter Lewis and Malaysian Azizulhasni Awang in Friday’s quarter-finals.
Awang, however, risked disciplinary action by staging a Gaza protest on the track, wearing gloves with “Save” over one knuckle and “Gaza” over the other.
The Commonwealth Games Federation, which seeks to avoid its competitions being used as political platforms, said it will “contact the Malaysian chef de mission to discuss the incident and take any action”.
That action could range from a reprimand to Awang losing his accreditation.
Published in Dawn, July 25th , 2014
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