Dolphins Unstoppable on Night Five

In what was a history-making night in Birmingham, the Australian Swimming team picked up a staggering 17 medals, six of which were gold.

Chelsea Hodges (1:07.05) claimed the first podium finish of the night for the Aussies, finishing third in the Women’s 100m Breastroke. It was a strong Aussie line up, with Abbey Harkin (1:07.47) in fifth and Jenna Strauch (1:07.60) finishing sixth.

Bradley Woodward (1:56.41) won his second Commonwealth Games medal, with silver in the Men’s 200m Backstroke, powering through the last 50m to finish only 0.01 seconds off gold. Fellow Aussies Mitch Larkin (1:56.91) and Joshua Edwards-Smith (1:57.50) finished fourth and sixth respectively.

18-year-old Elizabeth Dekkers (2:07.26) swam her way into the history books, picking up Australia’s 16th swimming gold medal of the meet, winning the Women’s 200m Butterfly. Dekkers was joined on the podium by teammate Brianna Throssell (2:08.32) in third, Abbey Connor (2:08.36) finished fourth.

“It feels amazing – it was so good to execute that race when I needed to, I’m so happy,” Dekkers said.

“Even though I was going in as the fastest qualifier, I didn’t put any expectation on myself and I’m just so amazed to come out with the win.”

The Aussies made a clean sweep of the podium in the Women’s 100m Freestyle. Mollie O’Callaghan (52.94) picked up her fourth gold medal of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, Shayna Jack (52.88) with silver and Emma McKeon (52.94) rounding out the podium winning bronze.

“I’m extremely happy. It’s still sinking in, but I’ve definitely still got a long way to improve. This is just the beginning for me,” O’Callaghan said.

“It’s amazing to race alongside her (Emma McKeon), she’s such an inspirational swimmer and her achievements are just outstanding.”

It was a dead heat in the Men’s 100m Butterfly, with Australian Dolphin Matthew Temple (51.40) and England’s James Guy both earning a silver medal. Cody Simpson (52.06) finished fifth in his first Commonwealth Games.

In a hotly contested Men’s 50m Breastroke final, Aussie Sam Williamson (26.97) took silver behind hometown hero Adam Peaty (ENG). Grayson Bell (28.31) finished eighth.

Commonwealth Games debutant Col Pearse (56.91) delivered another gold medal for Australia, winning the Men’s 100m Butterfly S10. Alex Saffy (57.53) sealed the silver, with team mate William Martin touching the wall in fourth (58.73).

“For me, I set a goal for myself to go 56.80 after the Tokyo Paralympics, but at the end of the day I’ll still take a 56.91,” Pearse said.

“I look back to four years ago, I was just a kid from a dairy farm and now here I am in Birmingham representing my country and not only doing that but winning gold.

“It’s unbelievable and I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

17-year-old Jasmine Greenwood (2:33.29) won her first Commonwealth Games medal, gold in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley SM10. Commonwealth Games debutant Keira Stephens (2:36.68) claimed bronze, and fellow Aussie Lakeisha Patterson (2:42.25) just missed the podium in fifth.

Ariarne Titmus (8:13.59) set a new Games Record in the Women’s 800m Freestyle to win her third gold medal of the meet. Australia claimed their second clean sweep of the night, with Commonwealth Games debutant Kiah Melverton (8:16.79) finishing second and Lani Pallister (8:19.16) rounding out the podium in third.

The Australian team of Kaylee McKeown, Zac Stubblety-Cook, Matthew Temple and Emma McKeon (3:41.30) closed out one of Australia’s most successful nights in the pool with a gold medal, winning the first ever Mixed 4 x 100m Medley Relay event.

Gold

Silver

Bronze