Medal tally grows by six
All you need to know from a successful day three of the Commonwealth Games for New Zealand as two swimmers and a track cyclist claimed gold.
Clareburt snares double
Lewis Clareburt cemented his place as one of the supreme stars of this edition of the Commonwealth Games with a second gold medal in the pool, this time in the men’s 200m butterfly.
A day after claiming gold in the men’s 400m individual medley, Clareburt surprised the field by finishing fast to beat legendary South African swimmer Chad le Clos for his second gold.
Clareburt wasn’t the only Kiwi swimmer to snare a surprise gold as Joshua Willmer, the youngest athlete in the swimming team at 17, won on the final stroke of the SB8 100m breaststroke.
Tupou Neiufi meanwhile won silver in the women’s 100m Backstroke S8 final with world champion Alice Tai taking the gold.
Cycling star is born
Corbin Strong, making his debut appearance in a Commonwealth Games, stunned an experienced field in the men’s Scratch Race to capture New Zealand’s sixth track cycling gold medal in Birmingham.
Strong, with a little help from teammates Campbell Stewart and George Jackson, perfectly executed an aggressive strategy that saw him vying with two other riders for the medals going into the race’s final laps.
Positioned perfectly by Stewart and Jackson, Strong surged clear in the last half of the final lap to take out the biggest win on the world stage of his career.
New Zealand’s other cyclists in action
on day three failed to make the same impact as Strong with Rebecca Petch, Callum Saunders, Sam Webster, Sam Dakin, Michaela Drummond, Bryony Botha and Emily Shearman all missing out on medals in their respective events.
Sevens bag bronze
It wasn’t the playoff match either team wanted to be a part of, but the men’s and women’s rugby sevens teams still did New Zealand proud by safely securing bronze medals over their rivals.
The women’s team’s 19-12 victory over Canada was a defensive masterclass for 13 minutes, until their rivals staged a late point-scoring surge to make it seem close. However, the pressure previously exerted, which led to tries for Michaela Blyde and Kelly Brazier, was more than enough to nail down victory.
Meanwhile, the men never looked like stumbling against Australia as they racked up four tries — two each to Leroy Carter and Moses Leo — on their way to a 26-12 victory.
Both teams then looked on as Australia defeated Fiji in the women’s gold medal match, and South Africa smashed Fiji in the men’s.
Teams shine through
The Black Sticks hockey men remain unbeaten after securing a 4-1 victory over Pakistan. The side now sit at the top of their group after drawing with Scotland 5-5 early on Saturday.
New Zealand’s women’s 3x3 basketball team also remain unbeaten after destroying the British Virgin Islands 19-5 in their final pool match. The win earns them an automatic place in the semifinals. The men’s team, meanwhile, won their first match of the Games, defeating Trinidad and Tobago 21-12 which left them set to play Canada in a quarter-final early this morning.
One blemish on the day for New Zealand’s teams was a fourth place finish in the mixed relay triathlon, an event that held medal hopes for Hayden Wilde, Nicole van der Kaay, Tayler Reid and Andrea Hansen.
In the end the team finished eight seconds behind third-placed Australia.
Squash superstars Joelle King and Paul Coll kept rolling in their events, both progressing to the quarter-finals.
While King cruised to an 11-3 11-5 11-5 win over Scotland’s Georgia Adderley, Coll was made to work hard against world No 106 Emyr Evans, eventually winning 8-11 11-0 11-5 12-10 in four sets.
— NZ Herald