Highlights From Glasgow – One World Record, Six New Commonwealth Games Records, And Much More On Night Two

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After the onslaught of records that was last night’s finals session at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland the athletes clearly wanted to make night two just as exciting as six Commonwealth Games records were broken which included one world record.

DAN WALLACE TAKES GOLD IN FRONT OF HOME CROWD

The individual records themselves were impressive, but so was Dan Wallace’s swim in the men’s 400m IM to take home another gold for the host nation. The Scotsman swam a hard 4:11.04 in prelims this morning to break the previous Commonwealth Games record held by Chad Le Clos of South Africa. With that time, Wallace was seeded first in finals.

Thomas Fraser-Holmes of Australia was the closest man to him at the end of the race which featured a complete domination by Sebastian Rousseau up until the freestyle leg. Both Wallace and Fraser-Holmes passed him on the last 100 meters posting very similar splits of 57.78 (Wallace) and 57.59 (Fraser-Holmes) respectively. Wallace’s time was a 4:11.20 to win the event, just shy of the record he set this morning but good enough to take down Fraser-Holmes who finished second in the event after winning the 200m freestyle earlier in finals with a time of 4:12.04.

This was a big win for the Scottish team as Fraser-Holmes was the clear leader going into the meet. He had posted a 4:10.68 going into the meet and was the current Commonwealth record holder in the race. Fraser-Holmes still did amazingly considering it was an extremely tough double, but he just wasn’t able to close on Wallace.

You could say there was a little disappointment for Scotland in that race masked by Wallace’s win as the two other swimmers representing Scotland in the final weren’t really in the race. Lewis Smith who went into the Games as the fourth fastest Commonwealth swimmer this year finished sixth with a time of 4:16.17. Smith was faster than that in prelims with a time of 4:15.64 that was faster than the 4:15.76 he swam at British Nationals to rank him 15th in the world this year before the games. Smith could have probably been more in the mix of things, but with the pressure of competing in front of a home crowd mixed with a tough event like that, a performance like that isn’t unwarranted.

The third Scotsman in the final, Ross Muir, finished back in eighth place with a time of 4:21.50. Like Lewis, Muir was significantly faster in prelims posting a 4:19.22 this morning. That time would have been good for a seventh place finish tonight as Muir was the only swimmer not to go under 4:20. Muir is only 22 so he has plenty of time to improve on that performance.

SIX COMMONWEALTH GAMES RECORDS FALL

The domination of Games records continued tonight as they were absolutely slaughtered.

Benjamin Proud stepped onto the blocks in the men’s 50m fly final to take gold in 22.93. That was not only a new Commonwealth Games record, but a new British record beating Proud’s old mark of 23.10. Proud got to break the record in the same final as the previous record holder, Roland Schoemann, who ended up grabbing silver for South Africa in 23.13.

Chris Walker-Hebborn bettered the new Games record of 53.30 that he set earlier in the meet with a 53.12 to win the men’s 100m backstroke tonight. Just like in Proud’s case, he did so with previous record holder Liam Tancock swimming in the final as well. Tancock finished in a tie for third with a time of 53.75.

Canadian Katerine Savard broke the 100m fly Games record with a 57.40 to give her, her first major international win. The Canadian fly star has been faster than that before, but this will put her as one of the top contenders heading into the event at the Pan Pacific Championships.

The women’s 50m freestyle Games record has been tossed around all day, being broken a total of four times. It’s currently resting with English swimmer Francesca Halsall who won her semifinal tonight in 24.14 to better her prelim swim of 24.31.

England’s Adam Peaty swam a brilliant 59.16 to set not only a new Commonwealth Games record, but a new English record in the men’s 100m breaststroke. Peaty broke the Games mark this morning but came back with vengeance during that semifinal. He’ll be heading into the final as the top seed, but will need to be on the watch for Scotland’s Ross Murdoch who absolutely tore a strip of the field in the 200m breaststroke final sporting a 2:07.30 new Games, Scottish, British, and Commonwealth record.

Last but not least the Australian men absolutely dominated the 4x100m freestyle relay tonight, posting a 3:13.44 to break the record that was held by Australia. The team which consisted of Thomas Fraser-Holmes, Matt Abood, James Magnussen and Cameron McEvoy took down the South Africans who ended up finishing second in 3:15.17. The Scottish team which was welcomed with loud cheers from the crowd set a new Scottish record with a time of 3:17.66 which gave them a fourth place finish. The race gave Fraser-Holmes his third medal of tonight, and second gold.

MADDISON ELLIOT BREAKS WORLD RECORD

Maddison Elliot broke the third world record at these games thus far by winning the women’s para-sport 100m freestyle S8 final. The Australian swimmer broke the previous mark held by USA’s Jessica Long of 1:05.62 which was set back in 2012.

Elliot’s time of 1:05.32 was good for the new World Record. She was pushed by English swimmer Stephanie Slater and Australian Lakeisha Patterson all race long.

FULL RESULTS CAN BE FOUND HERE