Australia make a big splash at Commonwealth Games

Australia wasted no time in establishing its reign at the pool, winning the first final of the swimming events as Kylie Palmer stole the show over England’s Rebecca Adlington. By the end of the first day, the Aussies had netted three gold medals out of five in front of an impressive gathering at the Dr SPM Aquatics Complex on Monday.

India, whose 4x100m quartet of Aaron D’Souza, Arjun Jayaprakash, Anshul Kothari and Virdhawal Khade had qualified for the final for the first time in CWG history, touched sixth, more than 13 seconds adrift of a powerful Australia, who timed 3:13.92. That was the only Indian presence in the five finals after the others withered away in the early rounds.

Despite the lag, India’s lead swimmer Aaron D’ Souza wasn’t disappointed. “It was a good performance,” he reasoned. “I swam a personal best. It’s exciting to swim in front of the home crowd. It’s special as I swam in front of my family.”

Palmer’s victory over Adlington wasn’t entirely a surprise, for the Englishwoman — an Olympic gold medallist in the 400m and 800m — fancies herself in the longer distance events. She trailed at the half-way mark, at which point Canada’s Genevieve Saumur was swimming the race of her life in lane 1. The Aussie gradually powered ahead in the final stretch, but it was Carlin Jazmin of Wales who was inspirational. Trailing 7th at the 100m mark and at 6th over 150m, the Wales swimmer produced a spectacular burst to edge past Adlington and Saumur.

Among the two who held off Australia’s surge for gold was Ryan Cochrane, who became the first Canadian in 72 years to win the 400m freestyle for men. Cochrane (3:48.48) touched just ahead of Australia’s Ryan Napoleon. The other swimmer to hold off the Aussies was South African Chad Guy, who staged a come-from-behind victory over England’s Michael Rock in the 200m butterfly. The Englishman led all the way over the first three laps, but the South African powered home over the last few metres.

In the 200m individual medley for women, Alicia Coutts edged ahead of teenage star Emily Seebohm and set a Games record. Seebohm led at the halfway mark, but Coutts had her in her sights, and eased through in the last 50m. “It was a hard race but I lost to a great competitor,” said a gracious Seebohm. “The breaststroke has always been my weak event but I’ll keep working on it.”