Team Wales DAY 5 Summary
Wales continue to pick up medals on Day 5!
- Lawn Bowls win Gold in the men’s pairs
- Olivia Breen wins gold in the T37/T38 100m
- A bronze in Judo thanks to Jasmin Hacker-Jones
ATHLETICS/PARA ATHLETICS
Olivia Breen ran the race of her life to claim gold in the women’s T37/38 100m and secure a PB. Breen was absolutely thrilled with her performance:
‘I’m just so happy. I got to the line and I did it! It means so much. It’s nine years of hard work but I knew I had it in me. I’m a determined person. I’m so, so happy.’
Olivia Breen
Adele Nicoll looked in fantastic form to comfortably qualify for the women’s shot put final.
A great performance from Jeremiah Azu in the 100m heats meant he booked his place in the semi finals and Hannah Brier is also safely through to the semis in the women’s 100m.
Lauren Evans was in action on day 1 of the heptathlon competing in the 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200m.
SWIMMING
Defending champion Alys Thomas was first up in the pool, racing in the 200m Butterfly final and finishing sixth with a time of 2.10.42.
A fast race for Dan Jones in the 50m Freestyle semi final finished 8th.
Medi Harris was back for the 50m backstroke semi-final, qualifying for the final in second position, just shy of her personal best.
Meghan Willis and Rebecca Willis competed in the 200m individual medley SM10, taking 7th and 8th place respectively.
Our Mixed 4×100 Medley Relay consisted of Charlotte Evans, Kyle Booth, Harriet Jones and Liam White. They swam 3.55.05 to qualify for tonight’s final in 6th.
GYMNASTICS
Emil Barber was first up in an impressive vault final lineup. Unfortunately Emil under-rotated both vaults and sat down, finishing 8th. Emil gave a heartwarming arena interview post competition where he thanked the crowd and discussed how much he had enjoyed competing at the games.
Brinn Bevan performed a routine packed with difficulty in the Men’s Artistic Parallel Bars final but small errors resulted in him finishing in 7th place.
Both Jea Maracha and Sofia Micallef had the performances of their lives, going clean in the Women’s Artistic Balance Beam final. They finished 6th and 7th place respectively, commenting that the games have been the most amazing experience and that this experience has really motivated them to get back in the gym and improve upon their difficulty scores.
Poppy Stickler brought Wales’ presence in the artistic gymnastics competition to a close in style. Her engaging floor routine was clean and brilliantly performed.
BOXING
One of the busiest days in the ring for Team Wales as four representatives and Commonwealth debutants take to the stage. First up, European medalist Ioan Croft took to the ring against Vadamootoo of Mauritius took the bout in an unanimous decision. Not long after, his twin brother Garan followed in his footsteps and won his bout against Osoba of Nigeria.
In the evening session, 18-year-old Owain Harris-Allen kicked off his first Commonwealth Games against Legola from Lesotho, he showed immense power and intensity and won his bout in a split decision. Last to the ring for Wales was 19-year-old Zoe Andrews from Port Talbot, who faced England’s Toussaint. Despite a strong effort and a close call, Toussaint edged Andrews out via a split decision.
JUDO
Jasmine Hacker-Jones’ strong performance won her a bronze medal in the women’s 63kg judo category after coming through from repechage earlier that morning.
No matter how hard it gets, just keep going because eventually you’ll get to the top.
LAWN BOWLS
Men’s Pairs Gold Medal Match
Wales 19 – 18 England
Jarrad Breen & Daniel Salmon
Salmon, who is now a double Commonwealth Champion (Gold Coast 2018) has won Wales’ second Gold medal with debutant Jarrad Breen.
Women’s Triples Sectionals Play –
Laura Daniels, Ysie White & Anwen Butten
Wales 11 – 14 Cook Islands
Men’s Fours – Section D – Round 1
Owain Dando, Jarrad Breen & Ross Owen
Wales 19 – 8 Norfolk Islands
Women’s Triples – Section B – Round 2
Laura Daniel, Ysie White & Anwen Butten
Wales 16 – 18 Botswana
Para Mixed Pairs B2/B3 – Section A – Round 4
Julie Thomas, Mark Adams, Gordon Llywelyn & John Wilson.
Australia 18 – 3 Wales
NETBALL
A confident performance against Australia saw Wales dominate the first and last quarters with the final score at Australia 79 – 33 Wales. Phillipa Yarrington collected her first cap, whilst Nia Jones picked up her 50th cap.
I’m pleased with our first and last quarter, things to reflect on ahead of the next game but I just want to thank our fans and the crowd today- incredible!
Bethan Dyke
JUDO
All the Welsh judokas won their first round matches. Daniel Rabbitt, Gregg Varey and Ashleigh-Anne Barnikel later lost their repechage matches and so did not progress to the medal matches in the evening.
SQUASH
In his semi final against England’s James Willstrop, Joel was incredibly composed and relaxed as he took a 3-0 victory. Joel was thrilled to progress to the final and become Wales’ most decorated Team Wales Commonwealth squash player. He will now play New Zealand’s P.Coll.
Joel thanked all of his family and friends (especially his grandmother) for their support.
WEIGHTLIFTING
Amy failed to finish following three no clean and jerk lifts. Amy completed two clean snatches, the first at 70kg and upping the second to 86kg.
They play England on Thursday morning in their final group stage game.
SWIMMING
Charlotte Evans competed in the 200m backstroke final finishing in 6th. Despite being disappointed with her final swim, Charlotte was thrilled to have made a final in her first major championships.
Kyle Booth competed in the 50m breaststroke semi final, placing 8th in a highly competitive field. He commented that the atmosphere was ‘completely electric’
Rebecca Sutton placed 6th in the 100m semi final, beating her own Welsh record.
Lewis Fraser placed 5th in the 100m butterfly semi final swimming a PB at 52.81s.
Joe Small finished 8th in the 50m butterfly final. He was so grateful that his family and his girlfriend’s family could get last minute tickets to support him.
Harriet Jones finished 6th in the 50m butterfly final and was really pleased with her performance in such a competitive field.
The men’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay team finished in an agonisingly close 4th place having placed in 2nd for the majority of the race. The team composed of Matt Richards, Callum Jarvis, Dan Jones and Kieran Bird smashed the Welsh record by 5 seconds in a time of 7.10.64. The team were proud and emotional following what was teammate Callum Jarvis’ last race.
