Brooke Stratton bounces back from injuries to win silver in Women’s Long Jump final
BROOKE Stratton’s brave campaign to rebound from fractures in both feet finished in tears and 7cm short of a Commonwealth Games long jump gold medal.
VICTORIAN Brooke Stratton’s brave campaign to rebound from fractures in both feet last night finished in tears and 7cm short of a Commonwealth Games long jump gold medal.
Stratton sobbed in the arms of her father and coach Russell Stratton when her last jump of 6.77m fell short of overhauling Canadian Christabel Nettey (6.84m) at Carrara Stadium.
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The 24-year-old soon brightened as she posed for photographs with an Australian flag after becoming the second Australian long jumper in as many nights to place second, joining Henry Frayne.
Stratton returned from sesamoid fractures in both feet after her sixth placing at last year’s world championships.
It was her first championships medal, having been prevented from taking her place at the 2014 Commonwealth Games by stress fractures in her back.
Nettey, the most consistent of the contenders, was the only Games opponent with a better jump in 2017 and 2018 than Stratton’s two jumps of 6.88 on March 28 at the Queensland International Track Classic.
The youngest member of Australia’s entire team, 15-year-old Rhiannon Clarke, left her first Commonwealth Games with a silver medal.
Clarke summoned a personal best 13.17 sec in the T38 100m final at Carrara Stadium won by England’s Sophie Hahn (12.46).
The Western Australian continued the run of medals from Australian para-athletes.
Originally published as Brooke Stratton bounces back from injuries to win silver in Women’s Long Jump final
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