Team Wales DAY 1 Summary
A strong start for Team Wales on Day 1 of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games!
- An early medal tally for Team Wales on Day 1 of the Games
- 1x Silver, 1x Bronze for Cycling (see below)
- New Welsh record in the pool thanks to Lewis Frazer
- Inspiring performances all round, with heats and qualifiers continuing for many sports
SWIMMING
A busy morning of heats in the pool with particularly strong performances from Dan Jervis (400m freestyle), Lewis Frazer (50m butterfly), Alys Thomas (100m Butterfly), Harriet Jones (100m Butterfly) and the mixed relay team- all securing races for the evening session.
Securing a personal best in his heats, Lewis Frazer went on to break the Welsh record in the 50m Butterfly semi-finals with a stunning performance of 23:57.
The story of the night fell to the mixed relay team who, just four years ago, didn’t have a team. Speaking of their inspiring swim that saw them land 4th place in the final, Rebecca Sutton said: ‘I’m so proud to represent my country. I can’t believe how far we’ve come, to swim like that, in a matter of years. We’re swimming against the best in the world and we nearly had the bronze which is an amazing achievement for all of the team.”
| MORNING SESSION | ||
| Men’s 400m Freestyle Heats | Keiran Bird 3:50:30 Daniel Jervis 3:50:13 | 4th 5th |
| Men’s 50m Butterfly Heats | Lewis Frazer 23:73(PB) Tom Carswell 24:29 | 3rd 6th |
| Men’s 100m Backstroke Heats | Liam White 55:90 Joe Small 55:13 | 6th 5th |
| Women’s 100m Butterfly Heats | Alys Thomas 59:11 Harriet Jones 59:25 | 3rd 3rd |
| Men’s 200m Breaststroke Heats | Kyle Booth 2:14:02 | 3rd |
| Mixed 4x 100m Freestyle Relay Heats | 3:29:66 | 2nd |
| EVENING SESSION | ||
| Men’s 400m Freestyle Final | Dan Jervis 3:51:19 | 8th |
| Men’s 50m Butterfly Semi-Final | Lewis Frazer 23:57(Welsh record) | 3rd (Q) |
| Men’s 100m Backstroke | Joe Small 55:22 Liam White 55:68 | 5th 7th |
| Women’s 100m Butterfly Semi-Final | Harriet Jones 58:90 Alys Jones 59:16 | 4th (Q) 5th |
| Mixed 4x 100m Freestyle Relay Final | 3:26:58 | 4th |
NETBALL
First quarter: JAM 16-12 WAL
Second quarter: JAM 38-22 WAL
Third quarter: JAM 55- 31 – WAL
Full-time: JAM 72 – 43 WAL
Sara Moore’s Welsh side opened their Commonwealth campaign against fourth seed, Jamaica. After a great first quarter, Jamaica came out on top. Wales will look to bounce back as they face Scotland on Sunday afternoon.
BOXING
Commonwealth debutant Haaris Khan bowed out in the first round of the 71-75kg middleweight division, round of 32 to England’s Lewis Richardson in the early session. The evening saw Taylor Bevan, who falls under the men’s light heavyweight division (71-80kg), win his round 32 bout against New Zealand’s Onyx Lye in a first round knockout! Bevan will go on to fight in the round of 16 on Monday evening against Samoa’s Jancen Poutoa. Monday evening will also see Jake Dodd contest for a space in the next round.
TABLE TENNIS
The Wales Women’s Team got off to a perfect start with two wins from two, securing a quarter final place. The team won all three sets in both games. The side will now face Canada in the top of the group decider tomorrow.
Results: Table Tennis – Round 1 3-0 Wales – Round 2 3-0 Wales
“Solid performance today from all the team, and we showed great team spirit. We’re all looking forward to tomorrow’s match against Canada to see who tops the group” – Chloe Thomas Wu Zhang
CYCLING
Mixed fortunes for Team Wales cycling in the Lee Valley VeloPark, as the team went into the afternoon’s session with the chance of picking up four medals, going on to secure the first two for the team at Birmingham 2022.
James Ball and Matthew Rotherham set a new Commonwealth Games record of 1:00:053 to guarantee silver in the Men’s Tandem B 1000m Time Trial. Unfortunately from their perspective, the Scottish pairing of Neil Fachie and Lewis Stewart shaved just 0.115 seconds off the time moments later to confirm gold. Alex Pope and Steffan Lloyd finished fifth.
Next Megan Barker, Ella Barnwell, Anna Morris and Jessica Roberts narrowly missed out in the Women’s 4000m Team Pursuit, edged out by England by the smallest of margins.
Then the quartet of Rhys Britton, Joe Holt, William Roberts and Joshua Tarling faced Australia in the Men’s 4000m Team Pursuit bronze medal final but they were overhauled in the closing stages to register another fourth place.
Team Wales’ final opportunity of the opening day came in the Women’s Team Sprint. Lowri Thomas, Rhian Edmunds, Emma Finucane had been edged out in agonising fashion during the morning’s qualifier but made amends with a strong performance against Australia to take the bronze in the medal final.
TRIATHLON
Men’s results; Iestyn Harret finished in a strong 9th position, the highest position for a Welsh triathlete at a Commonwealth Games. Promising youngster Dominic Coy finished 18th at his Commonwealth Games debut.
Women’s results; Non Stanford finished 6th at her second Commonwealth Games. Looking strong and with her focus now on Sunday’s mixed relay event, she said, before she hangs up her Commonwealth kit,
‘It’s my last Commonwealth Games so I was determined to go out there with a smile. I felt strong, didn’t stop smiling and enjoyed being in the Welsh kit’’
SQUASH
Emyr Evans and Peter Creed both qualify for the next round of the men’s singles.
LAWN BOWLS
Sets of close games for the men’s pairs, women’s singles, women’s fours, with wins for the para men’s pairs against South Africa and a draw against Northern Ireland for the men’s triples.
HOCKEY
Despite a very strong first half, our women’s team lost 4-0 to Canada. Wales were denied a crucial first half goal and Sian French missed the subsequent flick. Despite some impressive defending and Xenna Hughes putting herself (literally) on the line to prevent a Canadian goal, their attack proved too strong.
This game was Sophie Robinson’s 50th cap for Wales.
MEN’S ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS
The Welsh boys could have scarcely given a cleaner performance. Brinn Bevan’s parallel bars routine was practically perfect, Emil Barber’s floor had the entire arena in uproar with immensely clean landings. Josh Cook, Jacob Edwards and Joe Cemlyn-Jones all completed impressive all around competitions. Despite this incredible performance the team finished in 6th place following a very strong final subdivision.
Qualifications:
| All around final | Joe Cemlyn-Jones 12th Josh Cook- 15th | Final Takes place on Sunday Morning 9am |
| Floor final | Emil Barber- 4th Joe Cemlyn-Jones- 6th | Final takes place Monday afternoon 1pm |
| Vault | Emil Barber- 5th | Tuesday afternoon 1pm |
| Parallel bars | Brinn Bevan 4th | Tuesday afternoon 2pm |
MEN’S RUGBY 7s
It was a disappointing start for the boys against Canada this morning, their closest rivals coming into the Games. However, they were able to shake off any defeatist mentality to beat Zambia in a thrilling 38 – 5 victory this evening. There was plenty of Welsh support in the arena and that win has kept them in the run for a potential medal. However, they will likely need to beat 2 time Olympic champions, Fiji, tomorrow, if they are to stay in with a chance of that medal.