Rose Davies completes Commonwealth double with 5,000m win, Thea LaFond leaps to historic Dominica gold

GLASGOW – Australia’s Rose Davies completed a 5,000m and 10,000m double in Glasgow as Olympic triple jump champion Thea LaFond finally landed gold in her fourth Commonwealth Games on July 30.

Davies outgunned teammate Jessica Hull in a shoot-out over the final 400m after the Australian duo pulled away from Scotland’s Megan Keith, who held on for bronze to the delight of the home crowd.

In adding the 5,000m title to her 10,000m crown earlier in the week, Davies becomes the first woman to complete the long-distance double in Commonwealth Games history.

LaFond arrived at Glasgow’s last Commonwealth Games in 2014 as a teenager.

After getting bronze in the Gold Coast in 2018 and silver in Birmingham four years ago, LaFond finally delivered a first Commonwealth gold medal for the tiny Caribbean island of Dominica.

“It feels so bittersweet. The sweet part is that I’ve really been waiting for this. I’ve now won every colour of Commonwealth Games medal there is, and it feels amazing to be a trailblazer for Dominica,” said the 32-year-old.

“The bitter part is that this is probably my last Commonwealth Games. This is where it all started for me, and this is probably where it will end.”

Jamaican duo Ackelia Smith and Shantae Foreman completed the triple jump podium with the silver and bronze, respectively.

Devynne Charlton won the 100m hurdles gold for Bahamas, beating Jamaican Megan Simmonds into silver with Nigeria’s defending champion Tobi Amusan third.

But there was Jamaican joy in the women’s discus as Samantha Hall took gold.

There will be no sprint double for 100m men’s champion Emmanuel Eseme after the Cameroonian failed to qualify for the 200m final.

Singapore sprint queen Shanti Pereira booked her place in the history books on July 30, after clinching a spot in the women’s 200m final.

The 29-year-old clocked a season-best 22.81 seconds to finish third in her semi-final and eighth out of 24 overall. She is the first Singaporean sprinter to qualify for an individual final at the quadrennial event.

An ecstatic Pereira said: “I was just waiting for the timing to come out. Honestly, it didn’t feel like a great race, but doesn’t matter… I got it and I’m just really happy.”

On clocking her season’s best, she added: “Under 23sec, oh my god, I’m so happy. It’s been such a long time coming, just chasing this. I’m so glad I did it here and it got me to a Commonwealth Games final.”

The final was scheduled after press time on July 31.

Chukwuebuka Enekwechi of Nigeria won the men’s shot put with a throw of 21.07m to dethrone New Zealand’s defending champion Tom Walsh, who was second. England’s Scott Lincoln won bronze.

Zachary Shaw of England won the para-sport T12 100m in 10.89. Canada’s Sheriauna Haase won the women’s event in the T47 category.

England get revenge on track

England savoured a long-awaited win over Australia in the men’s 4,000m team pursuit final on the opening day of track cycling at the Sir Chris Hoy velodrome.

The England team of Charlie Tanfield, Henry Hobbs, William Tidball and Ethan Vernon came from behind at the halfway stage to claim gold by over a second.

“I feel like my whole career has been about the team pursuit and it being us versus the Aussies,” said Tanfield.

“It feels great. It’s a good rivalry and it’s really motivating. We’ve got some young guys coming through now so it’s really exciting for the future.”

Australia did reign supreme in the women’s team pursuit with victory over New Zealand in the final.

The world record went three times in barely a few minutes in the women’s para C4-C5 individual pursuit.

New Zealand’s Nicole Murray, who took bronze, had set a new C5 world record before England’s Morgan Newberry promptly took almost half a second off that mark in a new C5 record of 5min 05.764sec, eventually winning silver.

Tara Neyland of Australia, in the C4 class, took gold in her own world record time of 4:46.614.

“It took a lot of patience and a lot of perseverance. To come away with a world record as well is really special,” said Neyland.

Scotland’s Neil Fachie is now the hosts’ most successful Commonwealth Games athlete of all time after securing his sixth gold medal in the men’s tandem B 1,000m time trial.

England edged a shoot-out against South Africa 58-54 for a place in the netball semi-finals.

The Red Roses will take on New Zealand in the last four, while Australia face Jamaica.

In the women’s +86kg weightlifting final at Sec Armadillo, Singapore’s Melissa Yee bettered her own national record of 90kg in the snatch and 110kg in the clean and jerk, set at the Samoa Cup in May.

The 27-year-old lifted 95kg in the snatch and 115kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 210kg, finishing sixth out of 10.

England’s Emily Campbell won gold with a Games record total of 278kg, achieved by lifting 115kg in the snatch and 163kg in the clean and jerk. 

Malaysia’s Siti Aqilah Farhana Draman took the silver (253kg), while Canada’s Etta Mae Love claimed bronze with a total lift of 250kg.

On her rise in the sport, Yee, who was previously a thrower (shot put, discus and hammer), said: “I really have to thank my coaches from when I was young, like I did taekwondo and a lot of track and field and these (skills) are quite replicable here, so the base of my strength is really from there and I just have to make it more accurate and less effortful.” AFP