Thursday 24 July 2014

Glasgow 2014: DAY 1: Hosts Scotland off to golden start as 20th Commonwealth Games get under way



Scotland's Hannah Miley broke her own Commonwealth record in the
400m medley in front of a home crowd
(Getty Images)
By Steven Oldham

Glasgow 2014 kicked off today with a flurry of gold medals for host nation Scotland, England and Australia.

Medal events in swimming, cycling, judo, triathlon, weightlifting and rhythmic gymnastics meant the opening day got off to an action-packed start.

Host nation Scotland did well in the pool, with Hannah Miley breaking her own Commonwealth record in the 400m medley, retaining the title she won in Delhi four years ago.

There was also success in the men's 200m breaststroke, but not for Glasgow's poster boy Michael Jamieson - 20-year-old Ross Murdoch upstaged the more experienced swimmer and took his Games record to add salt to the wound. Jamieson cut a dejected figure afterwards despite taking silver.

Sisters Kimberley and Louise Renicks also both took gold in judo, in the -48kg and -52kg weight classes respectively. Kimberley overcome Indian judoka Sushila Likmabam, with Louise beating Kelly Edwards by disqualification after the Englishwoman collected too many penalties.


England head into day two top of the medal table, claiming an impressive six gold medals on the opening day.

Triathlete Jodie Stimpson took the first gold medal of the 2014 Games and she was soon joined on top of the podium by Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee.  England dominated the competition,  taking four of the six medals, including silver for Alistair's younger brother Jonny.


England's Ashley McKenzie on the way to gold
(BBC Sport)
England also had a great opening day in judo, with London 2012 Olympians Colin Oates and Ashley McKenzie both scooping gold, in the -66kg and -60kg weight classes.  Nekoda Davis won the final gold of the night, beating home favourite Stephanie Inglis in the -57kg final, a result which helped tip the medals table further in England's favour.

In the para-cycling, Sophie Thornhill and pilot Helen Stott won tandem sprint gold in the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, beating Scotland's Aileen McGlynn and Louise Haston 2-0 in a best-of-three final.

Sir Bradley Wiggins' return to track cycling saw Commonwealth gold elude him once more as the 4,000m team pursuit team were well beaten in the end by Australia in the final, leaving Wiggins with four silver medals from the Friendly Games.

Australia took three golds in the pool, including a stunning new world record time for the women's 4x100m freestyle relay, beating the former record holding Dutch team's time by nearly a second, with England and Canada second and third.

The team from Down Under also found success in the velodrome, winning both the 4,000m men's team pursuit, and the legendary Anna Meares won the 500m time trial ahead of team-mate Stephanie Morton. Meares also set a new Games record in winning and now boasts five Commonwealth gold medals among her medal collection.


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Canada took gold in the rhythmic gymnastics team event ahead of Wales and Malaysia, and also picked up gold in the pool thanks to Ryan Cochrane's victory in the 400m freestyle, retaining the title he won four years ago.

India also took two gold medals on the opening day, both in weightlifting, with the team picking up four of six available medals. Sukhen Dey (56kg) and Khumukchanu Sanjita (48kg) are now both Commonwealth champions, and the team have already matched their gold tally in this sport from their home Games four years ago.

So, what's up for grabs on day two? Shooting gets underway, There are also more medals in swimming, judo, track cycling and weightlifting. Many eyes will be on Michael Jamieson to see if he can bounce back in the 100m event.

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