TASSIE TRIUMPHS

TEAM Tassie is off to a flyer at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast — bringing home more medals so far than India, South Africa, Wales, Jamaica ... in fact, 66 of the 71 competing nations. Amy Cure’s gold medal in the women’s cycling team pursuit was the highlight of the day, but Jake Birtwhistle’s come-from-the-pack silver in the triathlon will be remembered as Australia’s first medal of the Games — and 17-year-old swimmer Ariarne Titmus, competing in the 200m freestyle, won the first of what is expected to be a swag of medals.

TASMANIAN Amy Cure and Australia’s women’s team pursuiters made history and buried some of their demons by winning the team’s first gold medal on the Anna Meares Velodrome last night.

Two years after their Rio Olympic campaign was essentially over before it began with a training crash on the eve of competition, a newlook Australian squad won the first women’s team pursuit on the Commonwealth Games program.

Guided by new coach Jason Bartram, riders Cure, Alex Manly, Annette Edmondson and Ashlee Ankudinoff celebrated with a group hug on the inside of the track after beating New Zealand in a Games record 4mins 15.214secs in the 4km final.

The Aussies caught the Kiwis on the final lap of their final to clinch a historic gold medal and kickstart Australia’s cycling campaign.

Manly, 22, was on her Games debut while Cure and Edmondson won gold medals in Glasgow four years ago and Ankudinoff made her Olympic debut in Rio.

But they said the win was also about their teammates, Georgia Baker and Rebecca Wiasak, who missed out on a ride and were instead cheering from the sidelines.

“It was amazing, so good to win but it’s not just us four girls who ride the bike, it’s Georgia Baker, Rebecca Wiasak who made the journey over here and didn’t get a ride but have been pushing us at training every day to perform,” said Cure, from Penguin, in the North-West.

“We owe it to them as much as we won there and to all the people who help us.”

Also on the track last night, Australia reclaimed the men’s team pursuit world record for the first time since 2004 with a breathtaking gold medal ride of 3mins 49.8secs.

The quartet of Alex Porter, Sam Welsford, Kelland O’Brien and Leigh Howard produced the first sub 3:50 ride over 4km to beat England in the final on the Anna Meares Velodrome.

Australia lost a heartbreaking Olympic final in Rio two years ago when it broke the world record, only for Great Britain to break it by more and stop the clock at 3:50.2.

But last night the record finally returned to Australia’s grasp as an almost entirely new-look squad hit back.

Welsford is the only remaining member from the Rio campaign while Howard only returned to track cycling from the road last year, and Porter, 21, and O’Brien, 19, are on their Games debut.

Howard said the team had already started thinking of their battle with Great Britain in Tokyo.