Australia wins 57 medals at 2014 Commonwealth Games

Swimmers to leave Glasgow with a golden glow
 
The Australian Swim Team will depart Glasgow tomorrow having wrapped up their 2014 Commonwealth Games campaign winning a total of 57 medals (19 gold, 21 silver and 17 bronze), including five of the six relay gold medals and setting four world records.
 
The team of 59 swimmers won a further eight medals on the final night of competition, including gold to Daniel Tranter in the men’s 200m IM and gold for Emily Seebohm, Lorna Tonks, Emma McKeon and Cate Campbell in the women’s 4x100m medley relay.
 
A World Championship finalist in the 200m IM last year, Tranter swam the race of his life to overcome Scotland’s Daniel Wallace (1:58.72) and Olympic gold medallist Chad Le Clos (1:58.85) to grab the first gold medal of the night and set a new Games record in the process.
 
Following a sensational breaststroke leg, Tranter moved into first place and could not be caught as he stormed into the wall to record a time of 1:57.83 and take the win. Also impressing with a fast third leg was three-time medallist from the meet so far, Thomas Fraser-Holmes (1:58.86) who missed the podium by just 0.01 of a second.


 
Having won the women’s 4x100m medley relay at every Games since 1990, the women’s team of Seebohm, Tonks, McKeon and Cate Campbell, proudly carried on the tradition for Australia picking up the gold medal in a Games record time of 3:56.23.
 
With England leading at the half way mark, a superb butterfly leg from McKeon and then a 51.59 split for Cate Campbell in the freestyle saw Australia add one last gold medal to their haul and make it a clean sweep of the women’s relay events. England finished with the silver medal in 3:57.03 with Canada rounding out the top three in 4:00.57.
 
In the corresponding men’s event, the Australian team of Mitch Larkin, Christian Sprenger, Jayden Hadler and James Magnussen finished just shy of the top spot with James Magnussen anchoring the team to the silver in 3:32.21. England (3:31.51) touched the wall just 0.70 ahead of Australia to steal the gold medal while South Africa were third in 3:34.47.
 
As the white water cleared in the men’s 50m freestyle splash and dash it was England’s Ben Proud who touched the wall first and spoiled another clean sweep of the podium from Australia. Proud took the gold ahead of Cameron McEvoy (22.00) in the silver medal position, James Magnussen (22.10) with the bronze and Matthew Abood (22.14) in fourth.


 
With a proud history in the men’s 1500m freestyle, Australia had two teenagers in the water looking to carry on that legacy. World Junior Champion and World Junior record holder in the event, Mack Horton won his first senior individual international medal with a silver behind defending champion Ryan Cochrane (14:44.03).
 
Hitting the wall in a new personal best time of 14:48.76, Horton moved into third place on the Australian all-time top ten, with only Grant Hackett and Kieren Perkins ahead of him.
 
Keeping up with the pace for the majority of the race, Jordan Harrison (14:55.71) just missed the podium with Welsh swimmer Daniel Jervis sprinting home over the last 50m to take third place in a time of 14:55.33.
 
In the final para-sport event of the competition, Katherine Downie moved her way up the rankings with a two second personal best in the women’s S10 200m individual medley.
 
With a silver medal to her name from this event at the IPC World Championships in Montreal, Downie stopped the clock almost five seconds faster than her heat swim to secure silver in the final of the women’s para-sport S10 200m individual medley.
 
New Zealand’s Sophie Pascoe was too strong for the rest of the field, taking gold in 2:27.74 while Aurelie Rivard was relegated to third behind Downie in 2:32.09. Commonwealth Games debutant Madeleine Scott was fourth in 2:40.61.
 
The women’s 400m freestyle saw dual medallist from the meet so far Bronte Barratt bag another bronze medal for her effort in the final. In a demanding race that saw a number of swimmers fighting for a minor medal, it was Barratt who managed to get her hand on the wall for bronze behind New Zealand’s Lauren Boyle (4:04.47) and Jazz Carlin (4:05.16) from Wales.
 
Swimming in her first major international final, 17-year-old Remy Fairweather hit the wall in sixth place in a time of 4:07.65.
 
A gold and silver medallist from the meet so far, Emily Seebohm was just short of adding a bronze medal to complete her collection in the final of the women’s 50m backstroke when she was out-touched at the wall to finish fourth in 27.98. Belinda Hocking (28.58) and Madi Wilson (28.86) capped off their Commonwealth Games campaign in 7^th and 8^th position respectively.
 
The Australian Swim Team will now depart Glasgow on Wednesday evening local time to return to Australia and start preparations for the 2014 Hancock Prospecting Pan Pacific Swimming Championships on the Gold Coast starting August 21.
 
Australia Swim Team medal tally – 2014 Commonwealth Games