Legend ‘in tears’ over star’s ‘all time’ swim as Aussies dominate in Glasgow
There was an Aussie gold rush on the first full day of competition at the Commonwealth Games, with our swimmers dominating in Glasgow.
Lani Pallister, Jenna Forrester, and our men’s and women’s 4x100m freestyle relay teams all tasted glory, as did para-athletes Jenna Jones and Alex Saffy.
Our golden girls’ stranglehold on the 4x100m freestyle relay has continued. AP Photo/Kin Cheung
Of the nine gold medals on offer, Aussie athletes won six.
Pallister’s was the first gold of the evening, storming home to a dominant victory in the women’s 400m freestyle. Forrester won bronze for an Aussie 1-3.
Pallister’s celebrations were relatively subdued – she looked almost bored – and she told Ariarne Titmus she wasn’t particularly happy with the time.
“Yeah it’s good. I’m not super stoked with the time – I feel like you probably could have seen that on my face at the end,” she said to Seven.
“But my first title for the week, it’s important to build and keep going and just move on from it.
“And yeah, I’m excited to keep going through.”
Only 40 minutes later, Forrester – Australia’s leading hope in the race following Kaylee McKeown’s withdrawal with glandular fever – was back in the water and won gold in the women’s 200m backstroke.
Titmus said she was “in tears” as she watched Forrester pull off “one of the all-time backups I’ve ever seen”.
Jones won gold in the women’s S13 100m freestyle, with Kirralee Hayes clinching bronze for another Aussie 1-3.
In the men’s S10 100m butterfly, Alex Saffy led home Col Pearse for an Aussie 1-2. It’s a reversal of the result in the same race at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.
To close out the night, Australia’s 4x100m relay teams did the double in almost identical circumstances, beating home England and South Africa in both races.
Jenna Forrester reacts to her shock win in the women’s 200m backstroke final. Getty Images
In the women’s race, Meg Harris smashed the opening leg, before Shayna Jack, Alex Perkins and Mollie O’Callaghan all stretched the lead, eventually touching in 3:31.40, more than four seconds clear of England.
“We knew they were the favourites, we probably expected it to be as dominant as it was, but it’s still such a wonderful sight to see Australia first, daylight second,” Giaan Rooney said in commentary for Seven.
The women have won the event in every Commonwealth Games since 1994, and 1986 was the last time the team missed the medals.
It was much the same for the men only minutes later as Flynn Southam, Kai Taylor, Harrison Turner and Kyle Chalmers led the race from start to finish.
Lani Pallister, embraced by Amelia Weber, looked almost bored after winning gold. Getty Images
Rooney said Chalmers’ anchor leg was particularly spectacular, and the English swimmer in the lane next to him would have felt as if he was swimming uphill.
Unsurprisingly, Australia sits on top of the medal tally, over Nigeria and host nation Scotland.
