Quartet strike gold in pool for England
LOUGHBOROUGH swimmers James Wilby, Sarah Vasey, Siobhan-Marie O’Connor and Adam Peaty have struck gold at the Commonwealth Games.
Wilby absolutely demolished his personal best by almost two seconds with a sensational swim in the 200m breaststroke final, winning gold with an incredible time of 2:08.05 - Wilby was seventh with 100m to go and third heading into the last 50m, but he stormed through to touch just 0.27 seconds ahead of Scotland’s defending champion Ross Murdoch who finished with silver, while bronze went to Australia’s Matt Wilson.
Wilby is the first Englishman since 1994 to claim the 200m breaststroke crown, improving from sixth at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Loughborough’s second gold came courtesy of Sarah Vasey who won the women’s 50m breaststroke on her Commonwealth Games debut.
She pushed 2014 defending champion Alia Atkinson of Jamaica into silver, while bronze went to Leiston Pickett of Australia.
Coached by Mel Marshall, Vasey moved to Loughborough in 2016 to pursue her swimming career, and it has really paid off; she finished sixth in the 50m breaststroke at the World Championships in Budapest last year, and she won her first Senior British title in the 100m breaststroke as well.
Now, Vasey can add Commonwealth Champion to her list of achievements, she said: “I am really, really happy. I just wanted to join the gold rush that went on last night from the English team. I knew I was in a good position to win, but I did not want to think I can win. I was just thinking about the process because my finish in the heat and semis were not that great.”
Siobhan-Marie O’Connor won gold in the 200m individual medley - defending her 2014 crown, the Loughborough College alumna clocked 2.08.80 to win with Canada’s Sarah Darcel taking silver and Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson bronze.
“The time wasn’t my best but it’s such an amazing feeling. “It’s hard racing the Aussies on their home soil. I wanted to focus on the medley and I’m really happy with that. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I’m so over the moon to have won gold and add it to the amazing haul for team England.”
Adam Peaty won gold in the 100m breaststroke but had to settle for silver in the 50m breaststroke after a shock defeat by South Africa’s Cameron van der Burgh.
James Wilby finished third in the race to complete a full set of medals after his 200m breaststroke gold and 100m breaststroke silver.
Other Loughborough medals in the pool included Molly Renshaw taking silver in the women’s 200m breaststroke and in the men’s 4x100m relay, where Loughborough-based Jarvis Parkinson and Elliot Clogg secured a place in the final for England with a time of 3:17.99.
In the final, Parkinson helped Team England and Loughborough secure a silver medal together with David Cumberlidge, Ben Proud and James Guy with a time of 3:15.86.