Commonwealth Games Day 6 Finals – Live recaps of the final swimming session

DAY 6 FINALS – 2014 COMMONWEALTH GAMES

• Finals start at 7PM Glasgow time; 2PM US East Coast time, 2AM Sydney time, 8PM South Africa time

DAY 6 FINALS – EVENT TIMELINE

All times local Glasgow time

• 7:07 pm – Women’s 400 freestyle – final
• 7:16 pm – Men’s 50 freestyle – final
• 7:31 pm – Women’s 50 backstroke – final
• 7:47 pm – Men’s 200 IM – final
• 8:03 pm – Women’s Parasport 200 IM – final
• 8:23 pm – Men’s 1500 freestyle – final
• 9:02 pm – Women’s 4×100 medley relay – final
• 9:12 pm – Men’s 4×100 medley relay – final

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Women’s 400 freestyle – Final

• 2010 Champion – Rebecca Adlington (ENG) – 4:05.68
• Commonwealth Games Record – Rebecca Adlington (ENG) – 4:05.68 (2010)
• Commonwealth Record – Joanne Jackson (GBR) – 4:00.60 (2009)

New Zealand picked up its second gold medal of the swimming portion of these Games as Lauren Boyle held off charging Welsh swimmer Jazz Carlin for the 400 free win.

Boyle, second to Carlin in the 800, went 4:04.47 to win by just over half a second. Carlin was 4:05.16 as those top two pealed out from the rest of the field. That time for Carlin is over a second off her season best, which still ranks #2 in the world for 2014. Boyle moves to #4 on that list while also breaking the Games record set in 2010 by England’s Rebecca Adlington.

Australia continued to add to its lead in the overall medal total, with Bronte Barratt taking bronze in 4:06.02. That counts as the 50th swimming medal for Australia, the most by 26 now over second-place England. Barratt was also a bit off a season-best, and now ranks just behind Boyle in the world ranks.

Home country hero Hannah Miley just missed the medals in what was her 7th final of the Games. Her 4:06.21 took fourth, just two tenths out of bronze. Canada’s Brittany MacLean was also close to some hardware, going 4:06.53 for fifth.

17-year-0ld Australian Remy Fairweather went 4:07.65 to take sixth in her first individual final of these Games. England’s top finisher was Ellie Faulkner, who went 4:08.92 for seventh and Canada’s Sam Cheverton finished 8th with a 4:09.85.

Men’s 50 freestyle – Final

• 2010 Champion – Brent Hayden (CAN) – 22.01
• Commonwealth Games Record – Ben Proud – 21.76 (2014)
• Commonwealth Record – Ashley Callus (AUS) – 21.19 (2009)

The times in the men’s 50 free final didn’t blow anyone away, but another gold for England, and another big victory over the Aussies for the U.K. contingent, was good enough for Ben Proud.

Women’s 50 backstroke – Final

• 2010 Champion – Sophie Edington (AUS) – 28.00
• Commonwealth Games Record – Georgia Davies (WAL) –27.61 (2014)
• Commonwealth Record – Sophie Edington (AUS) – 27.51 (2009)

A UK swimmer took a second consecutive gold medal with Georgia Davies defending her top seed in the women’s 50 back. Davies further lowered her Games record (set in the semifinals) but just missed the overall Commonwealth record by a narrow margin. Davies’ 27.56 is a season-best and further solidifies her position as #2 in the world ranks, but was just .05 off of Sophie Edington‘s Commonwealth record of 27.51.

This was another great event for the Brits, though, as Lauren Quigley of England rolled in with second place. The 19-year-old Quigley, who just missed medaling in the 100 back, went 27.69, a time that should now rank just behind Davies at 3rd in the world ranks for 2014.

Canada’s Brooklynn Snodgrass snuck in for the bronze medal, just pushing 100 back champ Emily Seebohm off the medal stand by .01. Snodgrass, a college standout for Indiana, went 27.97 with Seebohm in at 27.98.

Those four were well-separated from the rest of the pack, with nearly a full half-second margin between fourth and fifth. Scotland’s Kathleen Dawson (28.47) won a spirited battle with England’s Lizzie Simmonds (28.54) and Australia’s Belinda Hocking (28.58), with Hocking’s Aussie countrywoman Madi Wilson taking 8th in 28.86.

Men’s 200 IM – Final

• 2010 Champion – James Goddard (ENG) – 1:58.10
• Commonwealth Games Record – James Goddard (ENG) – 1:58.10 (2010)
• Commonwealth Record – Leith Brodie (AUS) – 1:56.69 (2009)

Australia struck back in the men’s 200 IM, though, ending the UK streak with Daniel Tranter‘s 1:57.83  Game- record win. Tranter will stay ranked #3 in the world after just missing his Australian Nationals time by two tenths here. Still, he had plenty of space to beat Scotland’s Dan Wallace for gold.

Wallace, the 400 IM winner for the host nation, was just under a second back in 1:58.72. That was enough to top South African star Chad le Clos by just a tenth for silver. Le Clos (1:58.85) was almost a second off his season-best, which still ranks 6th in the world. Only a hundredth behind was Australian Thomas Fraser-Holmes, who missed the medal stand here after winning gold in the 200 free earlier in the Games.

It was an entertaining race between the top three. Le Clos, as expected, led in the early goings with his world-class butterfly, going out in 24.25 to build a 1.7 second lead by the 50-turn. He actually increased his lead on back, but Tranter hit the gas during the breaststroke leg, flying by le Clos and building a nearly-one-second lead.

England’s Roberto Pavoni went 1:59.30 for fifth place, with his teammate Joe Roebuck sixth (1:59.33). Those were the last two swimmers under two minutes, with the final two championship finalists failing to crack the mark. Wales’ Ieuan Lloyd went 2:00.44 while 400 IM bronze medalist Sebastien Rousseau went 2:01.61 for South Africa.

Women’s 200 IM SM10 Parasport – Final

New Zealand’s Sophie Pascoe picked up her second gold medal of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, adding a win in the women’s SM10 200 IM to her earlier victory in the SB9 100 breaststroke.

Pascoe led this race wire-to-wire, but really did her big damage early on the backstroke length, where she split a 36.6 as compared to the 38.3 done by Australia’s Katherine Downie.

Pascoe wasn’t apt to give any of that lead back on the breaststroke, where she already won earlier in the meet.

While Downie did make up some ground coming home, Pascoe’s lead was too much to overcome as she finished in 2:27.74. Downie was 2nd in 2:31.98, and Aurelie Rivard, another member of the French-Canadian contingent at this meet that has led the way for Canada, was 3rd in 2:32.09.

Men’s 1500 freestyle – Final

• 2010 Champion – Ryan Cochrane (CAN) – 15:01.49
• Commonwealth Games Record – Kieren Perkins (AUS) – 14:41.66 (1994)
• Commonwealth Record – Grant Hackett (AUS) – 15:34.56 (2001)

Canada’s Ryan Cochrane led wire-to-wire, holding off a pair of Australians chasing him the full 1500 meters. Cochrane steadily built up a bigger and bigger lead to defend his Commonwealth Games title from four years ago. He went 14:44.03, which moves him to #1 in our 2014 World Ranks, passing up Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri.

Australian 18-year-old Mack Horton went 14:48.76, riding second in Cochran’s wake the whole way. That swim by Horton takes three more seconds off the Junior World Record he set earlier this year at Australian Nationals. Though Horton improved his season-best, he still slides from second to third in the world ranks because of Cochrane’s leapfrogging his way from 10th to 1st.

Horton’s Aussie teammate Jordan Harrison ran third most of the race, but gave way to Welsh freestyler Daniel Jervis over the final 100. Jervis, just 18, closed very hard to go 14:55.33 for the bronze medal. Harrison was left on the outside by four tenths, going 14:55.71.

From there, the second half of the championship final slid to above fifteen minutes. Scotland’s Stephen Milne went 15:04.90, topping a pair of Englishmen, Jay Lelliott (15:05.83) and Daniel Fogg (15:13.72). South Africa’s Devon Brown rounded out the heat in 15:17.89.

Women’s 4×100 Medley Relay – Final

• 2010 Champion – Australia – 3:56.99
• Commonwealth Games Record – Australia – 3:56.30 (2006)
• Commonwealth Record – Australia – 3:52.58 (2009)

The first of the two relay showdowns between Australia and England did not disappoint. Australia jumped out to an early lead, buoyed by Emily Seebohm‘s 59.41 in the 100 back. That’s just .04 off of Seebohm’s winning time from the open 100 back, showing some remarkable consistency. Canada ran second through that leg with Sinead Russell going 59.94, and England was third.

England made a run through the breaststroke leg, though. 100 breast gold medalist Sophie Taylor split 1:06.39 to take over the lead with Lorna Tonks struggling to a 1:08.28 for Australia. Canada nearly passed the Aussies as well on Tera Van Beilen‘s 1:08.01.

Australia started to reel in the Brits on fly thanks to Emma McKeon‘s huge 56.95 – that’s about six-tenths faster than McKeon was in the open 100 fly earlier in the meet. Siobhan O’Connor, who took silver for England in that race ahead of McKeon,was 57.89, and even Canadian gold medalist Katerine Savard split just 57.72.

England still led at the 300 exchange, but it didn’t take long for Cate Campbell to change that for Australia. The dominant sprinter split a blazing 51.59 to roll home with gold for Australia. She was starting from the flying relay exchange, of course, but that’s clearly Campbell’s best through-the-water swim of the season, as it’s a full second faster than her season-best and her winning time from the 100 free at Commonwealths.

The Australian squad went 3:56.23 to break the Games record by .07, taking down the mark the country set back in 2006. England wound up second in 3:57.03, which is a pretty solid time for the team, especially considering they’ll get top backstroker Georgia Davies back for European and World Championships. Davies is competing for Wales here, which DQ’d the medley relay in the final. Fran Halsall split 52.58 anchoring the team, a very good split considering she was just 53.99 in the 100 free final.

Canada took third overall back at 4:00.57, dropping off after running with Australia and England early on. A ways back was Scotland, 4:05.59, and South Africa took fifth at 4:09.31. In addition to Wales, Northern Ireland also DQ’d, and Singapore was a no-show, leaving only 5 teams on the final results list.

Men’s 4×100 Medley Relay – Final

• 2010 Champion – Australia – 3:33.15
• Commonwealth Games Record – Australia – 3:33.15 (2010)
• Commonwealth Record – Australia – 3:28.64 (2009)

You could see a storm brewing in this event all weekend, and on Tuesday, England finally completed what was a bit of an upset-in-the-making all meet. Team England went 3:31.51 to top Australia’s 3:32.21 by a solid margin, ending what was a lengthy win streak for the Australians in this event at the Commonwealth Games.

The English backstroke lead was actually somewhat less than expected. 100 back gold medalist Chris Walker-Hebborn was three-tenths off his winning time, going 53.40, while Australia’s Mitch Larkin hit his time from the individual 100 back right on the nose, going 53.59 for a second time. That left England with less than a two-tenths lead.

But 100 breast champ Adam Peaty put up a monster 58.59 split to open up a wide lead. Injured Australian Christian Sprenger actually had an admirable 59.64 split (compared to his 1:01.73 in the semifinals, which didn’t make the final), but the damage was still substantial. Using that open water, 100 fly bronze medalist Adam Barrett put up probably the relay’s most impressive split, going 51.02 for the fastest of the field. That was even better than South African Chad le Clos, who went 51.05. It also added eight-tenths to the English lead over Australia.

Despite James Magnussen toying with a crushing 46-second split (he went 47.17 anchoring the Aussies), England was able to hold on for the substantial win. Australia finished seven tenths back, and South Africa 1.2 seconds back from them. Adam Brown, coming off a rough 50 freestyle tonight, went 48.50 on the anchor leg, which was enough to hold off Magnussen and break the Games record, set by the Australia team from 2010.

South Africa had a lot of firepower through the middle of the lineup, but couldn’t fully utilize it to run down the top two. The lack of an elite backstroker left RSA studs Cameron van der Burgh and le Clos swimming through the top teams’ choppy waters, and van der Burgh was just 59.40 (le Clos, as mentioned earlier, went 51.05). The South Africans finished in 3:34.47 for bronze.

Canada finished fourth in 3:36.61, with freestyler Yuri Kisil going 48.14 for the second-fastest freestyle split of the field. That ran down New Zealand (3:36.80), which wound up fifth. Wales went 3:37.25 for sixth, beating UK rivals Scotland by two tenths. Northern Ireland closed out the final back at 3:51.39.