Brandon Starc lights up athletics stadium on another golden night for Australia

GIVING Australians a tag for him other than “brother of Mitch’’, Brandon Starc produced a career best performance to secure high jump gold on a night it rained medals at the athletics stadium.

AUSSIE high jumper Brandon Starc has leapt out of the shadow of Test cricketer brother Mitchell, soaring to the Commonwealth Games high jump gold medal.

The ecstatic fast bowler was among the first to congratulate his brother on the breakout victory, which headlined Australia’s third day at Carrara Stadium. “How bloody good. (I’m) super proud of him,’’ Mitchell Starc said. “Brandon has worked his backside off and this is such a fitting reward for him.” For almost three years, Starc has seen high jump bars fall when sitting above his 2.31m personal best, achieved at the 2015 world championships. ‘F...ing awesome’: Mitchell spears record Starc jumps out of brother’s shadow Denny in line to hammer history Golden girl, Arnie, still has work to do In a three-man shootout at Carrara Stadium, Starc, 24 was the only man to make a clearance at 2.32m. “It’s put my name out there now. 100 per cent,’’ Brandon Starc said. “I’m not putting anything on Mitchell – what he has done is incredible. But it’s a good feeling.” “My heel was hurting a little bit just here, but I pushed through. I knew I was in good form and I just had to back myself and believe in myself. That’s what I did and, look what happened.” Four jumpers had better season-best heights than Starc’s 2.28m, but the Sydneysider gave Australia a first gold medal in the event since the win by Tim Forsyth at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Canada. Jamal Wilson, of the Bahamas, passed at 2.32m, giving him only one attempt at 2.34m, while under the rules Starc had as many as three. Silver medallist Wilson hit the bar with his shoulder, giving Starc.the gold medal. It was a tenacious competition by Starc, as he missed a height at each of three previous heights _ 2.24m, 2.27m and 2.30m. Brandon Starc played cricket and also football when a boy before embracing the high jump and is a social media oddity because of his name’s similarity to the Game of Thrones character Brandon “Bran’’ Stark. After his preliminary jumps on Tuesday, Starc had said he was over the “enjoy the experience kind of thing’’ of competing at a championships and forecast that he was pushing for “medals for sure, PBs’’. Starc made the Rio 2016 Olympics final, but had to pick up the pieces late last year after a shin injury stopped him from going to the London world championships. He placed eighth at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games as a 20-year-old. Bronze medallist Django Lovett, of Canada, quit the competition after straining his left hamstring in missing his second attempt at 2.32. England’s run of outs at Carrara Stadium continued when Robert Grabarz, the entrant with the highest season-best of 2.31m, exited the competition with just 2.19m. . SILVER FOR THE FRAYNE TRAIN Scott Gullan THE Frayne train has finally stayed on the tracks long enough for Queensland’s long jumping star to get a major championships medal around his neck. Unfortunately it was coloured silver and not the gold everyone was hoping for after his qualifying heroics when he set the Commonwealth Games record. Frayne, 27, had come into the Gold Coast with injury concerns but that’s been his life for so long that it didn’t even register. And then in Tuesday’s qualifying the two-time Olympian produced the jump of his life, smashing the Commonwealth Games record with a leap of 8.34m. But even after that extraordinary performance, the question remained about whether the injury-prone jumper could deliver in the medal round. Frayne answered that on his second jump, soaring 8.33m — just 1cm behind his record -breaking leap 24 hours earlier — to put his marker down on the Commonwealth title. It took some magic from South Africa’s reigning world champion Luvo Manyonga to knock off the Australian and he did it with a massive fourth jump in the competition of 8.35m. The Rio Olympic silver medallist then improved again on his final leap to win the gold with 8.41m. Frayne had one last shot at glory but unfortunately fouled his final attempt. The silver medal was great reward for Frayne’s persistence given his injury history with his previous personal best dating back to 2012. The 2011 world indoor championships silver medallist has been to two Olympic Games and left disappointed both times with a seventh in Rio in 2016 his best finish. After his qualifying round heroics, Frayne joked about the back, groin and hamstring issues he’d had leading into the Gold Coast. “(The injuries) are all a blur to be honest,” he explained. “I don’t even count injuries as injuries, that is just daily life for me. “Anything under a Grade 2 muscle tear is just the norm ... it’s become a bit of a joke.” Frayne’s new personal best leap took him to No.4 on Australia’s all-time list. In the women’s 400m final, Anneliese Rubie couldn’t back up her impressive semi-final run and finished a disappointing seventh (52.03sec). Botswana’s Amantle Montsho took the gold in 50.15sec with reigning champion Jamaica’s Stephenie McPherson fading for third (50.93sec).

Originally published as Brandon Starc lights up athletics stadium on another golden night for Australia

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