Key events
Swimming: On the BBC Clare Balding says, because Australia have been so dominant in the pool today, that we should all pipe down and listen to the Advance, Australia Fair with Zac Stubblety-Cook standing atop the podium after his 200m breaststroke gold. #Respect #SwimmingValues
James Wilby speaks after winning silver in the 200m breaststroke: “It was such an incredible race … to come away with a medal, really happy with that. It’s been a rollercoaster after the [Olympic] Games last year … it’s always one of those one we want to put in a good effort. Really happy with that.”
Gold for Australia in the Mixed 4x100m freestyle relay final!
Swimming: Yes, you guessed it: Australia win the Mixed 4x100m freestyle relay final in a time of 3mins 21.18secs. England seconds, Canada third.
Swimming: It’s time for the Mixed 4x100m freestyle relay, which is nice.
Andy Bull
“Ten, nine, eight, no wait, I’ve got ahead of myself, nine, eight, seven … ” The Birmingham Commonwealth Games began with this out-of-synch countdown in (and yes I had to triple check this) Royal Leamington Spa, where, at just gone eight on Friday morning, 80 finely-honed athletes filed out of a little wooden pavilion in Victoria Park to begin the first of nine days of ruthlessly competitive lawn bowls. Friendly Games my foot. Go tell it to Wales’ five-time world champion Laura Daniels, who wiped out a 59-year-old Falkland Islander called Daphne Arthur-Almond 21-2 while you were finishing your breakfast.
Artistic gymnastics: England, Canada and Cyprus are coming out for their medal presentation. They get a huge cheer from the crowd. And the English team looks thrilled, as well they might, having dominated the event from start to finish.
Gold for Zac Stubblety-Cook in the men’s 200m breaststroke!
A thrilling race sees the favourite, Zac Stubblety-Cook of Australia, win gold in 2min 08.07secs. James Wilby of England pushes him all the way, though, and claims the silver, with Ross Murdoch of Scotland winning bronze as the fantastic Scottish start to these Games continues!
Murdoch yells with delight and flexes his muscles while still in the water … what a performance!
Amid all the Australian success in the swimming pool, among other places, I should probably tell you that our desk Down Under is live-blogging the Neighbours finale. A historic day indeed. Bid farewell to Madge, Harold, Mrs Mangel et al right here:
Gold for England in the men’s team artistic gymnastics!
Canada claim silver and Cyprus win the bronze, their first medal in this discipline. History made by Cyprus, and an accomplished team performance by England.
The final podium:
England – 254.550
Canada – 241.200
Cyprus – 239.650
Women’s rugby sevens: Today’s results are as follows –
Pool A
England 57-0 Sri Lanka
New Zealand 45-7 Canada
New Zealand 60-0 Sri Lanka
Canada 26-19 England
Pool B
Australia 38-0 South Africa
Fiji 31-12 Scotland
Fiji 41-0 South Africa
Australia 50-0 Scotland
Men’s rugby sevens: Scotland run out 50-12 winners against Malaysia in Pool B.
Swimming: Various medal ceremonies are now taking place for the earlier finals. The men’s 100m backstroke semi-final is the next event up in the pool.
Men’s rugby sevens: Scotland are beating Malaysia 43-12 in the second half of their Pool B match.
Artistic gymnastics: England are streaking away to victory in the men’s team final: After the fifth rotation, they top the table with a score of 212.650. Canada are next best, with 202.550, Cyprus now in third with 201.750.
Men’s rugby sevens: New Zealand, remarkably, fight back from 17-0 down at half-time to win 19-17. The Samoans look gutted, as well they might. New Zealand will top Pool A.
It was a late try from Caleb Tangitau that won it!
Men’s rugby sevens: Having trailed 17-0, New Zealand now lead 19-17 in a game that will decide who tops the pool …
Men’s rugby sevens: England ran out 47-19 winners against Sri Lanka: now Samoa are beating New Zealand 12-17 in the second half … Samoa were winning 17-0 at half-time.
Australia have nabbed nine medals in five swimming finals so far this evening …
Toni Shaw speaks after her bronze medal: “I’m so, so happy … I’m just really happy. It’s just an amazing experience to be part of Team Scotland, we don’t get to do it very often.”
Gold for Sophie Pascoe in the women’s 100m freestyle S9!
Pascoe defends the title she won four years ago in a hugely exciting race as she just holds off Emily Beecroft of Australia! The winning time is 1min 02.95secs … Meanwhile Toni Shaw grabs another medal for Scotland – it’s bronze and their fifth medal of the games already.
There is an emotional moment as she gives a big hug and a kiss to Ellie Cole, the Australian who is bowing out after this race, and who was racing in the next lane. Clearly a lot of affection and respect betweenn the two athletes.
Compelling images aplenty in our Commonwealth Games gallery:
Gold for Tim Hodge in the men’s 100m backstroke!
Australia continue to dominate in the pool this evening: A new Games record of 1min 01.88sec for Tim Hodge who beats Jesse Reynolds of New Zealand into the silver-medal position. It’s a first Commonwealth Games medal for Northern Ireland, for Barry McClements! A fine achievement.
Women’s netball: In Pool A, Jamaica have defeated Wales 72-43 in their opening match. Earlier on, Australia hammered Barbados 95-18, and (as previously stated) England beat Trinidad & Tobago 74-22.
Men’s rugby sevens: England are taking on Sri Lanka and they lead 19-0 with 60 seconds of the first half remaining.
A few bits of news from today …
Artistic gymnastics: Scotland are up to third in the table in the men’s artistic team final after an excellent effort on the parallel bars.
Katie Shanahan, who is understandably both out of breath and very emotional, speaks to the BBC after her bronze medal in the women’s 400m medley: “I’m so happy, this season’s not been the season I wanted it to be … never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I was going to get a medal in my first Commonwealth Games, I am so happy. I could see all the girls coming at me, and I was thinking, I need to hurry up here … I just gave it my all. I’m so happy right now.”
Men’s hockey: England lead Ghana 1-0 after the first quarter in pool B.
Gold for Ariarne Titmus in the women’s 200m freestyle!
Mollie O’Callaghan pushed her all the way but it’s a gold medal for the Olympic champion. It’s another one-two-three for Australia, with Madison Wilson coming home third. Titmus and O’Callaghan embrace while still in the water … that was a big and probably unexpected scare for Titmus.
Titmus’s time of 1min 53.89secs is a Commonwealth Games record.
Gold for Summer McIntosh in the women’s 400m medley!
1) Summer McIntosh (Canada) 4min 29.01secs
2) Kiah Melverton (Australia) 4min 36.78secs
3) Katie Shanahan (Scotland) 4.39.37secs
A sensational performance from the 15-year-old McIntosh, who destroys the field, and a wonderful effort from Shanahan of Scotland to take bronze. It’s a new Games record for McIntosh, and a first gold medal of these Games for Canada.
Swimming: The races are going to come thick and fast this evening. Now it’s time for the final of the women’s 400m individual medley.
Gold for Elijah Winnington in the men’s 400m freestyle!
A stunning performance by the Australian and the team: it’s a one, two, three with Winnington first, Sam Short second to take silver, and Mack Horton wins bronze.
Winnington’s winning time is 3.43.06secs. The favourite takes it down in a time fully two seconds quicker than Short, the silver medalist, who comes home in 3.45.07secs.
Daniel Wiffin, of Northern Ireland, is fourth, Luke Turley of England fifth, Daniel Jervis (Wales) finished eighth.
Swimming: The men’s 400m freestyle final is first on the menu this evening, and is scheduled to begin at 7.07pm.
Dan Jervis, the Welsh competitor, gets a big cheer as he walks out into the arena. He will be in lane one.
Artistic gymnastics: After rotation three in the men’s team final, England lead the way with a score of 125.300. Canada are second, with 123.050, Australia third with 121.750.
One of England’s team sprint silver medalists, Ryan Owens, speaks to Jill Dougals on the BBC: “You couldn’t tell, with how incredible the crowd was here, whether you were up or down … I swing off pretty early and I get a good view of the whole event, it was an adrenaline rush watching that … it was a great run-out from the boys … we didn’t quite have enough, they’re flying at the moment, but it was a good day out, I’d say.”
Joe Truman adds: “Goosebumps all day with this crowd, it’s been a while since we had a crowd like this. It was amazing for the start line, even for the qualifiers this morning, it was buzzing.”
Meanwhile, the BBC pundit Chris Hoy points out that Australia’s time in that team sprint final would have won Olympic gold by 0.6secs at the Olympics in 2012.
Gold for Australia in the men’s team sprint!
Australia’s power-packed Matthew Glaetzer rounds off a dominant win to claim gold in a time of 42.040secs. The gap between the teams was a massive 1.332secs. They both started well, but Leigh Hoffman was quicker with a lap of 17secs on the nose. Matthew Richardson turned in a strong second leg and Glaetzer put the cherry on the cake. Glaetzer has won gold in the Keirin twice now, in 2014 and 2018, and is bidding to become the third track rider to win three consecutive golds in the same event (thank you Simon Brotherton on the BBC for that factoid).
Track cycling: It’s Hoffman, Richardson and Glaetzer for Australia v Owens, Turnbull and Truman for England in the men’s team sprint final.
Bronze for New Zealand in the men’s team sprint!
Sam Webster seals it for the Kiwis in an emphatic bronze-medal race win against Canada, a time of 43.856secs. Australia v England, now for the gold medal.
Track cycling: New Zealand v Canada now in the men’s bronze-medal race in the team sprint.
Gold for New Zealand in the women’s team sprint!
Ellesse Andrews, who dropped out of the team pursuit earlier, does the business with a telling final leg. New Zealand win gold in another new Games record (this three-rider version of the event is new, after all), a time of 47.425secs. They finish 0.576secs ahead of Canada.
Bronze for Wales in the women’s team sprint!
Emma Finucane brings it home for Wales on the track! That was a great ride by their three-rider team, they took the initiative early, and didn’t let it slip. They win bronze in a new Games record of 47.767secs, 0.356 ahead of Australia! Now time for the final: New Zealand v Canada.
Track cycling: Time for the bronze-medal ride-off in the women’s team sprint. It’s Australia v Wales …
Men’s artistic gymnastics: James Hall now pulls off an excellent routine on the pommel horse for England as they aim to defend their title.
Men’s artistic gymnastics: … is the latest sport that I will be trying to work out on the fly. Thanks for holding the fort, by the way John.
Australia are up now, on the vault, and Clay Mason Stephens nails an incredible double twist jump which he lands as clean as a whistle.
Until the swimming finals start this evening, the men’s artistic team gymnastics final is taking the focus, with Cyprus looking good amidst contenders from Wales, Scotland and England.
Some news from the women’s cricket, as Raf Nicholson reports on the England team.
Women’s cricket is making its debut appearance at the Games, in a Twenty20 tournament at Edgbaston between 29 July and 7 August. Knight has received an injection in her hip in a bid to soothe some irritation in the joint, having missed the final two T20s of the multiformat series against South Africa, and hopes to be fit to return in the remaining matches. Meanwhile, Nat Sciver will deputise as skipper for the Sri Lanka fixture.
“We can’t turn down a silver at the Commies,” says Ollie Wood, the English team pursuit silver medallist, who points to illness and a lack of preparation time hampering progress, though with New Zealand in such form, and Australia looking so strong, they will take that.
