Medal Heaven for England as Youngsters Strike Gold
10th September 2011England’s young athletes added 11 golds to their overnight medal tally on the second day of the Commonwealth Youth Games on the Isle Man today.
England’s gymnasts and cyclists led the way again with victories in the women’s road race and a one-two in the men’s individual all-around competitions before England’s athletes took five on a superb afternoon of track and field and the swimmers added three in the pool.
Gymnast Dominick Cunningham and cyclist Hannah Barnes both added second golds to their individual totals as England won 21 medals on the day.
Cycling
England’s medal haul started when Lucy Garner pipped Australia’s Emily Roper to the line in the women’s road race, with Hannah Barnes adding the bronze to her time trial gold from yesterday as less than three seconds covered the first ten riders at the finish.
With Harriet Owen following them home in seventh, England’s women also bagged their second cycling team gold in two days ahead of Australia, with Wales picking up bronze.
Throughout the race the English girls formed part of the leading peloton, digging deep in the wet and windy conditions. As the leaders approached the finish it was Garner who produced the best sprint, punching the air with delight as she took the chequered flag in front of the TT grandstand.
“I didn’t really know what to expect before the race,” said Garner, a national youth and junior track champion from Countesthorpe in Leicestershire. “I didn’t think the downhill finish would really suit me but I positioned myself well.
“I was itching to make a break but told myself to wait until the finish was in sight. It was a great feeling as I crossed the line. It is very important to win team gold as well – we are here as part of an England team and we work as a team.”
All three riders contributed. “It is really important to look after each other during the race,” explained Owen, from Woodstock in Oxfordshire. “We try to keep together and react as a team when riders make a break.”
There was more success for England when the men took team silver in their road race while Jon Dibben, from Brockenhurst, came agonisingly close to an individual medal, finishing fourth in a blanket finish after racing in the leading group all the way to the line.
After 14 laps and 100kms, six riders had broken away from the field and sprinted for the finish. It was Caleb Ewan for Australia who crossed the line in first place, just ahead of Owain Doull of Wales and another Australian, Jack Beckinsale. Matthew Holmes and Sam Lowe finished in 9th and 10th respectively to clinch silver.
“It felt a long way today and there was a massive headwind approaching the finish,” said Dibben. “I’m disappointed to finish fourth as I would have expected to produce a better sprint but it’s good to get a team medal.”
Gymnastics
Cunningham claimed his second gold of the Games after another nerveless display in the Ellan Vannin Gymnastics Centre.
After leading England to team gold yesterday, the 16-year-old from Birmingham dominated the men’s individual all-around competition to win by more than two and a half points from team-mate Jay Thompson.
“Yesterday was for the team but today I upped it a little. This one was for me,” said Cunningham, who finished with an overall score of 82.950.
Leading throughout, Cunnningham almost let it slip on the penultimate event, the parallel bars, but recovered with a poised performance on the bars.
“I knew that I had to perform to the same standard as yesterday,” he said. “But I felt the pressure kicking in on the bar. The parallel bars hadn’t gone too well so I knew I had to stay on.
“When I hit my landing it was a big relief, and I knew all the background training had been worth it. It’s great that Jay got the silver too.”
Thompson, from Paignton, was delighted to follow his team-mate onto the podium after scoring 80.400.
“I made a few mistakes but it was still a decent score,” he said. “I definitely thought I could pull it out of the bag. I just had to focus because it was a mental game today.
“My body is tired and I was still giddy from yesterday’s win, but I just had to keep my nerve and chill out.”
In the women’s event, Liverpool’s Abi Caig added an individual bronze to the team gold she won yesterday. Caig, who led after qualifying, couldn’t quite maintain Friday’s consistency as she lost points with a fall on the bars.
She showed great character to recover and produce the best performance of the afternoon on the beam but nevertheless had to be content with the bronze behind Angel Romaeo from Wales and New Zealand’s Brittany Robertson.
“I knew after my fall on the bars that I would have to produce a very good performance on the beam to have any chance of the gold and I thought I came back fighting harder because of that,” said Caig.
Rebecca Tunney finished sixth.
Athletics
An inspirational performance from Zak Seddon in the 2000m steeplechase kick-started England’s gold rush on the track.
Seddon, who beat Ugandan Zakaria Kiprotich with a sprint finish in 5:41.81, said: “I knew I had a tough race but I thought the longer I could hold on the better. I was taking him on the water jump so I knew if I could get to the last water jump I was in with a shout.”
Two more golds quickly followed through Sophie McKinna in the shot and Clovis Asong in the 400m.
McKinna added Commonwealth Youth gold to her silver from the World Youth Championships with a fourth round effort of 14.75m, while Asong got the better of Kenya’s 2010 Youth Olympic Champion Alphas Leken Kishoyian in 47.76.
George Caddick won a surprise bronze in 48.99.
McKinna said: “It feels fantastic because this is one of the competitions I targeted this year along with the World Youths.
“As the rounds went on I managed to increase my distance so obviously I was pleased with that because it shows I can maintain form throughout the competition. It’s my last competition of the season so I had to make it worth it.”
Asong was also delighted. “It feels good because it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he said. “I just wanted to stay as close as I could to the Kenyan so I could power through the last 200m, and it kind of worked.”
A delighted Caddick added: “It feels amazing, especially when my PB wasn’t in the top three in the field. In the last 100m I knew I was in a good position and I just needed to finish it off, and I did.”
Yasmin Miller led from gun to tape to clinch England’s fourth gold in the 100m hurdles, clocking a windy but fast 13.30.
Miller said: “I didn’t know I’d win but I’m really happy with it. I didn’t know what to expect because at the World Youths I messed up badly.”
Jazmin Sawyers was the clear favourite going into the long jump final and she didn’t disappoint, winning with a slightly wind-assisted 6.27m.
Sawyers, who finished ninth in the recent World Youth Championships, said: “It feels absolutely incredible. After the disappointment of the World Youths to come here and win is amazing, it’s incredible.”
England picked up another medal in the men’s 1500m when Robbie Farnham-Rose took bronze behind a strong Kenyan duo in 3:51.89.
Swimming
England’s swimmers added another three golds in the pool with Sophie Smith and Phoebe Lenderyou winning their second medals of the Games.
Smith, from Leicester, led all the way to win the women’s 200m IM by just under a second and a half from Sycerika McMahon from Northern Ireland.
“I really wanted to take it out from the start but I was quite surprised at the lead I had at halfway,” she said. “This is my strongest event and I thought it was my best chance of a gold medal. I’m hoping for another medal in the 200m freestyle tomorrow and in the 4x100m relay.”
Lenderyou added the 100m backstroke title to the 200m silver she won yesterday. The Newcastle swimmer broke one minute for the first time as she clocked 59.77 to snatch victory from Australia’s Adelaide Hart with England’s Georgia Hohmann taking bronze.
“The race was a bit of a blur so I didn’t really know what everyone else was doing,” said Lenderyou. “It’s great that my mum and dad and grandma are here and I’m hoping for another medal tomorrow in the 50m backstroke.”
Elena Sheridan’s parents weren’t at the pool but they were watching intently online back in Romford as their daughter took gold in the 200m butterfly, smashing her personal best by 1.5 seconds.
Sheridan led all the way to touch some two seconds ahead of Vanessa Puhlmann of Australia with team-mate Rachael Kelly taking bronze. As the British and English junior short course record holder in the 200m fly, Sheridan was hoping for a medal.
“I didn’t think that I would break 2:10,” said the 15-year-old. “I knew that I had plenty left after the heats this morning. It feels great to be the CYG champion.”
England added a silver in the 4x100m relay thanks to a great anchor leg from international debutant Aaron Rickhuss, but there was disappointment for the women’s 4x200m team as they were disqualified for an illegal change after finishing second behind Australia with a storming final leg from Smith.
Boxing
All but one of England’s boxers will fight for gold tomorrow after six out of seven won their semi-finals today. With only light heavyweight Jack Massey missing out, team leader Martin Webb hailed the overall performance as “incredible”.
“We’ve got seven medals and six shots at gold,” said Webb. “You really can’t grumble at that.
“That’s six wins out of seven today and only one defeat in the tournament so far. I had a feeling we’d do well, but this just proves how well prepared we were.”
Jack Bateson got England off to winning start when he won his light flyweight bout against Charles Cornet of Mauritius by a judges’ decision before flyweight Sykes outscored Welshman Josh John 13-6.
Qais Ashfaq was even more dominant in his bantamweight contest against Cliff Wale of the Solomon Islands, forcing the referee to halt the fight in the first round.
Lightweight Henry Thomas had the toughest battle against Northern Ireland’s Enda Kennedy but the Darlington boxer won the hard-fought contest 22-14.
“It was tough but I got there in the end,” said the 17-year-old scrap metal worker. “I had to stick to my game plan – go for it in the first two rounds then when I knew I was up at the end, just keep my guard up. One silly shot in this game can put you on your backside.”
Darren Tetley booked his place in the light welterweight final beating Scotland’s Rhys Pagen 19-12, another difficult bout, while Damon Jones beat Coner Doherty of Northern Ireland in the welterweight division.
With six out of six in the bag it was all down to Massey to complete the sweep but the Buxton boxer came off the wrong side of a bruising contest against Australia’s Allan Brandon, losing at the death by just two points, 15-13.
“That just took the edge off an otherwise perfect three days,” commented Webb. “But to be fair to Jack he came into the team a bit later than the others and he’s done superbly to get a bronze.”
Webb’s biggest fear now is that he’ll have to live up to a rash promise. “I hate wearing baseball caps, hate them,” he said. “But I told the lads if they win five golds I’ll wear one tomorrow. It looks like I might have to.”
Badminton
England will also go for gold in the badminton men’s doubles final tomorrow after Tom Wolfenden and Ryan McCarthy won a thrilling three-set semi-final against India’s Srikanth Kidambi and Hema Thandarang. England are guaranteed a bronze medal in the men’s singles and could also take bronze in the mixed doubles.
Wolfenden and McCarthy fought back from a set down and saved one match point before winning 8-21, 21-14, 22-20 in the last match of a long day’s programme, and England’s last chance of a place in the finals.
“The Indians started so well we were a bit shell-shocked to begin with,” said Wolfenden. “But we changed our tactics and after that we started to dominate.
“It feels amazing to know we’ll definitely get a medal. Now we have to focus on tomorrow. We’ve got nothing to lose so we’ll give it all we’ve got and see what happens.”
“It was tense at the end but at 20-all I knew we had the momentum to win,” added McCarthy. “We played the big points well.”
England are guaranteed a bronze in the men’s singles as Wolfenden will face his team-mate Rhys Walker after both lost tough semi-finals today.
Walker found number one seed and Malaysian star Zulfadli Zulkiffili a class apart and went down 21-12, 21-10 after showing impressive form to win his quarter-final in two games against Australia’s Eddie Hung.
Walker’s hopes were raised earlier when Zulkiffili suffered a knee injury during his nail-biting quarter-final victory against India’s Joshi Pratul. In what was easily the match of the day, a hobbling Zulkiffili fought back from 5-0 down in the third set before just getting the better of his Indian opponent 21-18, 19-21, 21-19.
The injury forced the Malaysian to abandon his doubles quarter-final tie with Wolfenden and McCarthy but he recovered well enough for his meeting with Walker.
Though disappointed, Walker is determined to learn from the experience of playing one of the world’s best.
“I know I didn’t perform to the best of my ability today, and that’s disappointing,” said the national number one from Warwickshire. “But then again, he’s a very good player and made it difficult for me to get going.
“The fact is, I know where I stand now compared to the Asian players. This is my first time playing against them, and hopefully I’ll get more opportunities. What makes a good player is how well you bounce back, so I’ve got to take it on the chin. I just wasn’t on the button today.”
Wolfenden’s singles hopes also ended in the semis when he lost to Sameer Verma of India 21-9, 21-15. The Merseyside teenager had earlier beaten his training partner Daniel Font of Wales in a three-set quarter-final.
“Obviously, I’m disappointed not to win the semi but it was really good experience for me because I’m only 17,” he said. “This is the next level of singles for me and I learned a lot from the game. Hopefully, I can take my chances in the bronze match tomorrow.”
Emily Westwood saved five match points before she lost her women’s singles quarter-final in two sets to Li Lian Yang of Malaysia, but the Harpenden girl will have a shot at a mixed doubles medal tomorrow after she and McCarthy beat Welsh pair Font and Jordan Hart this morning.
The duo lost their semi-final to Ee Yi Teo and Mei Kuan Chow of Malaysia but will play for bronze against Heg Nelson and Lee Meng of Malaysia.
But there’ll be no medal for Sophie Brown and Holly Smith who lost to Sri Lankan pair Achini Rathnasiri and Upuli Samanthika in the women’s doubles quarter-finals.
Rugby7s
England’s rugby 7s team finished top of group B thanks to a tight 7-5 victory against South Africa after both teams had enjoyed thumping whitewash victories in their first two games.
England beat Trinidad & Tobago 53-0 and Sri Lanka 64-0, while South Africa scored 62 points without reply in their opening matches.
England will play Isle of Man in the quarter-finals tomorrow and hope to progress through to the Final.
Medals
England finished the day with 35 medals, 13 behind Australia, but level pegging with the Aussies on 18 golds apiece.
Gold 18; Silver 8; Bronze 9; Total: 35