Aussies finish strong on final day in Birmingham

Much like the great runners, jumpers, walkers and throwers of years past and present, Australia has finished strongly, ending their Commonwealth Games campaign with a flourish of medals on the final day of action in Birmingham.

Australian javelin stars Kelsey-Lee Barber and Mackenzie Little celebrated an Aussie quinella, Peter Bol made a scintillating drive to the line to finish with silver in the 800m, Brooke Buschkuehl produced a massive jump for her silver medal, Declan Tingay walked his way to a sensational silver in the 10,000m walk, while 21-year-old Abbey Caldwell stormed home to clinch bronze in the 1500m.

In an epic duel on the javelin runway, Barber and Little pushed each other to great lengths with world champion Barber, taking gold from rising star Little, in silver.

Sixteen centimeters was all that separated the two in the end, with Barber throwing 64.43m to Little’s 64.27m.

The pair asserted their dominance over the field, with bronze placegetter Annu Rani from India, more than four metres away from the two Australians. Little took the outright lead early in the competition, throwing a personal best of 64.03m with Barber behind in 63.52m. Little bettered her mark again on her fifth throw, before Barber produced a last-grasp throw of 64.43m to pip her teammate and claim the Commonwealth title.

Barber now has a complete set of Commonwealth medals, after bronze in Glasgow, silver on the Gold Coast and now, gold in Birmingham.

The clutch performance was in similar fashion to how she captured her maiden world title in Doha in 2019, and her bronze medal from Tokyo 2020.

“I didn’t think about the fact I’d done it before,” Barber said of her final-throw brilliance.

“It’s really nice to have the confidence to know I can keep lifting through a competition and I can find something special in that last round but with the throw it’s really easy to get caught up chasing.”
 
“I think this is a really lovely story that has played out in the leadup to this and I had the bronze and silver and the gold was always the goal but to have achieved it I am really thankful for the journey.”

Although Little would have loved to have been on the top step of the podium, the 25-year-old was still thrilled with her personal best performance on the day.

“I gave it my best and that’s all I can do, my coach (Angus McEntyre) said all the right things and we are in such good shape,” Little said.
 
“Having that competition makes it even better, everyone was really impressive. I threw two personal bests, and I can’t ask for much more than this.”

In the highly anticipated men’s 800m, Tokyo 2020 star Peter Bol will be taking home the silver medal in a home straight showdown with Kenyan supremo and Gold Coast 2018 champion Wyclife Kinyamal.

Racing smoothly in a tactical affair, Bol set himself up in a podium position as the field strung out with 200m to go. In a final dash to the line, Bol and Kinyamal broke free from the chasers.

Bol hunted down the Kenyan with every step, but was unable to overtake before the finish line arrived, stopping the clock in 1:47.66 - one stride and 0.14 from the gold medal.

“I had been looking forward to that and Australia has been performing so well on the track and it’s been one hell of a Games,” Bol said. 
 
“After the first lap.. it’s 800, iit’s so tactical. I saw 55 (seconds) and I just said to myself stay relaxed, stay relaxed and don’t tense up. I think if we had more than twenty meters I could have got him.”

While it was the top spot that Bol came to claim, the Western Australian was thrilled to be bringing home his first piece of international silverware. 
 
“I have been chasing medals for so long and after last year’s disappointment, after my World Championships disappointment, I can’t be upset about being on the podium. I’ve got to be grateful,” he said.
 
“Even if I fell short, the love is consistent and that’s what I am grateful for, so this is for my family and for Australia.”

The silver medal in the men’s event is Australia’s best result since Peter Bourke won a gold at the 1982 Brisbane Games.

There were tears of joy from the family of Brooke Buschkuehl (nee Stratton) at the long jump pit as she secured a silver medal in an incredible competition against the Commonwealth’s best.

Buschkuehl, the silver medallist from Gold Coast 2018, mustered a jump of 6.95m (+0.5) on her fifth attempt, 5cm short of Nigerian gold medallist Ese Brume of Nigeria. The leap was her third furthest distance of her career, just two months after coming to jumping after knee surgery earlier this year. 

"I am obviously absolutely over the moon, although it's not the gold, it's the silver, and it makes me just as proud and to come away with a 6.95m jump, and it's my third farthest jump ever," Buschkuehl said.

"I knew it was going to take a lot to beat her (Brume). 6.95m was the best I could do tonight and I am just so happy I was able to put a consistent series out tonight. I wouldn't have expected to be in this position about two months ago, and it's just crazy to believe.

"There's been so many times I have really thought deeply about giving up and this really makes the hard times worthwhile."

Brume’s amazing set of jumps included a 6.96m, twice at 6.99m and finally 7.00m on her final attempt, breaking the previous Games Record of 6.97m held by Australian Bronwyn Thompson from Melbourne 2006.

Fellow Australian long jumper, 21-year-old Samantha Dale was unable to bring her best in the final, jumping 6.32m (+1.1) to finish in 10th place.

When it comes to racing an Olympic great, a silver medal is as good as gold and this was the case today for the newly minted Commonwealth silver medallist Declan Tingay.

Tingay was one of three Australians to toe the line in the Men’s 10,000m race walk and put on a sublime show over 25 laps of the track in his best efforts to take the crown. A medal favourite, Tingay from the start, with only Canadian veteran Evan Dunfee on his shoulder. 

The Western Australian walker looked to have grasped the gold medal, but was outpaced in the final 300m as Dunfee surged forward, increasing the gap between himself and Tingay until he crossed the finish line in 38:36:37. The Canadian defeated the Australian by nearly six seconds, as Tingay took silver in lifetime best of 38:42:33. 

“I came here wanting a medal,” the 23-year-old said after the race.
 
“Gold would have been nice but I got outkicked by one of the best in the world and a massive PB so I am absolutely happy with it all.”
 
“I backed myself, attended to all my physical and mental cues and executed my movement as best as I could.”
 
In the same race, Kyle Swan and Rhydian Cowley placed fifth and eighth respectively. Swan clocked 40:49.79 after receiving a one minute penalty after receiving three red cards for lifting his feet off the ground during the race, while Cowley battled through cramps to finish in 41:28.05. 
 
21-year-old Abbey Caldwell asserted her dominance in the world of middle distance running, claiming her first international medal; a Commonwealth bronze in the Women’s 1500m, ahead of powerhouse duo Jessica Hull and Linden Hall.
 
All three Australians showed off their skills throughout the race, as Hull led the field early into the race before easing back to allow eventual gold medallist Laura Muir to do the work, while Hall was amongst the front three in the final lap. 
 
In sixth position running around the final bend, Caldwell still had more to give and stormed home, overtaking Hall to steal bronze in 4:04.79.
 
“Honestly, I don’t know where that came from. The 1500s are brutal and I think I just saw those girls in front and I found that extra gear and to come from behind, it meant so much to me,” Caldwell said.
 
Caldwell was outpaced by the world champion, Laura Muir  and Ciara Mageen who had the first two medals locked away with just over the lap to go, but there was no stopping Caldwell in putting it all on the line for the bronze.
 
“I knew she’d (Muir) would take off hard and I didn’t think I’d be able to stick with her. I did everything I could for my possibilities. It just evolved how it did over the race,” she said.
 
“I felt it was there, but when you are in that state, you don’t see the finish line, you just go for it.”
 
Hall was just once place behind Caldwell, finishing in fourth place in 4:05.09 while Hull finished in eighth, clocking 4:07.31.
 
In other results on the final night of competition, Australia’s second fastest ever hurdler Michelle Jenneke and former heptathlete Celeste Mucci both lined up in what was the fastest ever Women’s 100m Hurdles at a Commonwealth Games.

Jenneke placed fifth, showing off her form in a time of 12.68 - just 0.02 off the personal best she set at the World Athletics Championships this month. Mucci crossed the line in 13.03, while Nigerian world record holder Tobi Amusan broke the Games record in 12.30, with Bahama’s Devynne Charlton taking silver. Hometown hero Cindy Sember claimed the bronze in 12.59. 

The Australian quartet of Ella Connolly, Bree Masters, Jacinta Beecher and Naa Anang came within a whisker of a podium finish, trumped only by one of the best sprinters of all time.

With Australian 100m and 200m champion Connolly replacing Gross who got the job done in the heats, the Australians were sitting pretty by the time Beecher handed over to Anang on the final changeover.

Anang gave it everything in the final straight, and looked destined for the podium until five-time Olympic gold medallist Elaine Thompson-Herah from Jamaica stormed home on the inside to steal the bronze from the Australians by eight hundreds of a second. The Australians finished in a time of 43.16.

Continuing her strong Birmingham form, South Australia’s Isobel Batt-Doyle stormed home eighth in the gruelling 5000m event, clocking 15:13.53.  Her performance made even more impressive after backing up from double the distance just days earlier at Alexander Stadium. 

Rose Davies and Natalie Rule also gave it their all, finishing 17th (15:41.23) and 18th (15:51.31) in the 12 and a half lap event. Beatrice Chebet and Selah Busienei of Kenya secured the gold and bronze, and Eilish McColgan, the Scottish runner who broke her mother’s Commonwealth Games record in the 10,000m just a few days ago, won silver.

Australian six-time champion Steve Solomon clocked 46.22 when running a lap of the Alexander Stadium track in the Men’s 400m final. A victory just to get there after battling injury throughout the year, the 30-year-old clocked 46.22 to place sixth. 

Cameron McEntyre relished being on the world stage for the second time in two weeks, finishing in seventh place in the men's javelin, throwing 79.89 against a tough field. The result was his fourth best mark ever with the 23-year-old using the Games to build his experience on the road. He was unable to out-throw Arshad Nadeem who earned an historic gold for Pakistan and a fifth-round Games record.

Australia’s sole triple jumper at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games Julian Konle made his international debut with a 15.90m landing on his first attempt. Konle fouled his next two attempts, and was unable to progress after finishing the first half of competition in the bottom four, placing 10th overall. 

By Sascha Ryner, Jake Stevens and Sam Okely for Commonwealth Games Australia
Posted: 8/9/2022