Australian women’s 4x200m relay team hold off fast finishing Canadians to maintain relay dominance
EMMA McKeon has collected a third gold medal as Ariarne Titmus sealed her reputation as one of the toughest racers in world swimming with a steely anchor leg that continued Australia’s sweep of relays in the pool.
EMMA McKeon has collected a third gold medal as Ariarne Titmus sealed her reputation as one of the toughest racers in world swimming with a steely anchor leg that continued Australia’s sweep of relays in the pool.
McKeon led the relay off in 1min 56.62 sec and while the time was slightly slower than that which sealed her bronze in the individual race, it gave the Aussies a lead that Brianna Throssell and Leah Neale kept intact to give Titmus a lead heading into the final leg.
Enter Canadian Taylor Ruck, who touched Titmus out for gold in the individual 200m on the opening night of competition and the scene was set for a thrilling duel between the 17-year-olds.
Ruck moved to Titmus’s shoulder in the opening 100m but the woman dubbed “The Terminator” by her own father knew her mission.
“I knew she would put the pressure on the first hundred but I know that with my race plan, I have the great back end and I had to trust that,” said Titmus, who will swim her favoured 400m and 800m later in this meet.
“I think it was a pretty good swim, I could hold on, so I’m happy.”
CYCLING: How Meares inspired McCulloch to fairytale gold
DIVING: Decision that spurred Mitcham to gold
Another gold for 🇦🇺
— 7CommGames (@7CommGames) April 7, 2018
Ariarne Titmus finishes it off to claim gold in the 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Final Well done girls!! ðŸ‘ðŸ‘
🥇@emma_mckeon
🥇@briathrossell
🥇@leah_neale1
🥇Ariarne Titmus#7CommGames #GC2018 pic.twitter.com/GlyQYJWb5v
McKeon said she was desperate to hang on to her lead after going out hard.
“That’s what I realised a relay is about, get as good a split as you can and finish well so the next person diving in feels motivated and ready to go,” McKeon said.
“That is what I tried to do. My split wasn’t that fast but that’s where it’s at.”
The win was one of three for Australia in the pool on Saturday night, coming on the back of an emotional gold to Cate Campbell in the 50m freestyle and a win to Timothy Disken in the SB8 100m breaststroke.
The profile of “Disco” Disken continues to grow after he nabbed his second gold medal of the meet, leading an all-Australian trifecta in the SB8 100m breaststroke.
Disken led Timothy Hodge and Blake Cochrane to the wall, with Australia increasing its medal count in the next event as Katherine Downie snared bronze in the SM10 200m medley.
Cate Campbell was spared a 200m swim given there were no relay heats but her night still glittered after she collected gold in the 50m freestyle and became unexpectedly emotional on the podium.
“I didn’t expect to get so teary. I think that a lot of people have supported me over the last year-and-a-half and to be able to stand there on the podium and have the whole crowd sing the national anthem with me was something that was pretty special,” she said.
Meanwhile, Cameron McEvoy is hoping a day makes all the difference for him as he chases what seemed an unlikely gold medal in the 100m.
McEvoy looked down and out after his heat swim, a 49.20 effort that would have missed the final at Australian team trials just a month ago.
But he was a different swimmer in last night’s semis, notching the fastest qualifying time for Sunday’s final with a 48.50 swim that has him back in the frame for gold.
“It was just important to get into final,” he said.
“I’ve felt a bit off so far this week. But the more I swim, I guess the better it’s been getting.
“You can be a totally different person within the day. I’m pretty pumped with that.”
Commentating for the Seven Network, Ian Thorpe said he had been “worried” for McEvoy after seeing his heat swim on Saturday morning.
“Look, (there’s) a lot of pressure on him. And kind of being the poster boy of something like this adds to that pressure as well.
“We’re talking about him like this as well.
“There are expectations. The expectations come from the fact that he has swum 47.0.
“For us we want to see him get back near that time because it was so brilliant to be able to see that.”
Emily Seebohm was just denied a third consecutive gold in the 100m backstroke when she was out-touched by Canada’s world record-holder Kylie Masse in a thrilling race.
The Canadian broke the Games record for the third time in as many swims at this meet to beat Seebohm by 0.03 to claim gold.
So often a bridesmaid at the top level, Seebohm said she could not be disappointed with her race after swimming almost a quarter of a second faster than at last month’s trials.
“I’m so excited, that’s so much faster that what I did at trials,” she said.
“If it wasn’t for the crowd cheering me on I don’t think I would have been able to swim as fast.”
South African Chad le Clos became one of only a handful of swimmers to have won the same event at three consecutive Commonwealth Games when he snared the 200m butterfly to win his 14th Games medal.
David Morgan won silver in a game effort.
“I’m really happy with that. It’s not the fastest time I’ve done but in that race, I needed to race it,” he said.
“I was racing to try and win it. Sometimes you over think it and in that race, I knew I just had to do it and I was pleased with how I went.”
Originally published as Australian women’s 4x200m relay team hold off fast finishing Canadians to maintain relay dominance
Australia’s bid to save plagued Comm Games
Australia is set to save the tortured 2026 Commonwealth Games after stepping in with a multimillion-dollar assistance package.
Comm Games ‘host’ hits immediate setback
The anxious search for a 2026 Commonwealth Games host isn’t ending soon, despite shock reports a nation had secured the job.
Shock city linked with 2026 Comm Games
Marred by uncertainty for over a year, the 2026 Commonwealth Games may have inched closer to a new host.