Thorpe mark falls, Aussies finish with record gold haul
Ian Chadband |
Kyle Chalmers has flown to an emotional landmark triumph, splashing and dashing to a record-breaking 50m butterfly crown as Australia’s swimmers finished with an unprecedented 37 gold medals at the Commonwealth Games.
Chalmers earned the 10th gold medal of his Commonwealth Games career, propelling him past Ian Thorpe’s all-time Australian men’s record tally of 10 golds and one silver.
Port Lincoln’s ‘Big Tuna’ then revealed it may not be his Commonwealth Games hurrah.
Chalmers, resigned to the end of his domestic 100m freestyle reign after his defeat by Flynn Southam 24 hours earlier, shared his glorious moment with compatriot Ben Armbruster as they both struck gold together in a Games record 22.73 seconds.
Chalmers responded as only the great champions can by also downing his fellow big gun and ‘superdad’ Cam McEvoy, who took bronze in yet another Australian 1-2-3 in the Tollcross pool.
Chalmers, who banked his 12th Games medal overall to rise above Thorpe, had even forgotten that the record was still on as he wasn’t counting on winning in the butterfly discipline he started in.
“Maybe I should have swam that heat of the medley relay this morning,” laughed Chalmers, who could have had an 11th gold.
“I said I wouldn’t do that because I wanted to really prioritise tonight. It’s amazing to go past a legend of the sport.”
But the 28-year-old, watched again by wife, Norwegian swimmer Ingeborg Loyning as she cradled their baby in the crowd, made the shock claim afterwards that he might still be around in Ahmedabad, India, for the 2030 Games.
“I might still be hanging around in four or eight years’ time. Who knows? But yeah, realistically, I’m 28 years old,” he smiled.
“I’m not beating these young guys.”
Guys like Armbruster, who’s powering through from the town of Stanthorpe in Queensland.
“There’s no better feeling than to win a gold medal, able to tie for gold with a fellow Australian country boy,” said Chalmers.
“We’re both from remote country towns – and we’ve been able to make it onto the the national team and inspire the next generation of country kids coming through.”
The milestone came as Australia’s all-conquering team stormed to a new record tally of golds at a single Games on the final night of the program, roaring past the previous mark of 28 won at Gold Coast 2018.
Queensland speedster Meg Harris became the most bemedalled of all, joining the elite band who’ve scooped six golds at a single Commonwealth Games as she led another green-and-gold sweep in the 50m freestyle, ahead of Alex Perkins and Shayna Jack, in her farewell race.
Then the 24-year-old, who’d powered to victory in 24.23, went on to anchor the women’s 4×100 medley relay team, featuring Iona Anderson, Sienna Toohey and Perkins – who ended up with five golds and a silver – to the penultimate win of the week.
Kai Taylor, son of former teen phenomenon Hayley Lewis, was cheered on by his mum while earning a shock 200m freestyle gold.
Brittany Castelluzzo won the 200m fly ahead of bronze medallist Lizzy Dekkers, while Sam Short took the 1500m freestyle for a distance treble as compatriot Ben Goedemans claimed bronze.
Lakeisha Patterson continued the Dolphins’ para domination too as she struck 100m free S9 gold ahead of Emily Beecroft.
Fittingly, the last title of the week went to the Dolphins as the men’s 4×100 relay quartet of Henry Allan, Sam Williamson, Matt Temple and Flynn Southam landed Australia’s eighth gold of the night and their 37th in all.
So it proved another hugely expensive evening for billionaire benefactor Gina Rinehart, who ‘ll have to lavish more bumper medal bonuses on the squad after already facing a bill of over $1 million.
The victory of Taylor from lane one was a huge surprise as the 22-year-old was able to lurk while leading from the inside almost unnoticed, prevailing in 1:45.22.
AAP