by Alfonz Juck
Tom Walsh, London 2017, photo by PhotoRun.netWalsh 22.45 top qualifying mark ever
GOLD COAST (AUS, Apr 8): On the first day of the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, New Zealand’s Tom Walsh smashed the championship record in the shot put qualifying with 22.45m, the longest throw ever recorded in the qualifying round of a major championships. Walsh smashed the championship record of 21.61m held by Jamaica’s reigning champion O’Dayne Richards who also qualified for the final with 19.65m. England’s Nick Miller won gold in the hammer with a British and championship record of 80.26m also a World lead (his fifth round throw of 79.75m was also in excess of his British record) ahead of Australia’s Matthew Denny (74.88m) and Mark Dry (73.12m) and there were also two gold medals for Australia in the 20km race walk. Olympic bronze medallist Dane Bird-Smith won the men’s title in 1:19:34 ahead of Tom Bosworth who lowered his British record to 1:19:38 with Kenya’s Samuel Gathimba taking the bronze in 1:19:51 while Jemima Montag (1:32:50) and Alana Barber (1:34:18) took a one-two for Australia, although the prospect of a clean sweep vanished after leader Claire Tallent was DQ’d. In the only track final of the night, Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei won the 5000m in 13:50.83 from Canada’s Mo Ahmed (13:52.78) and Kenyan youngster Edward Zakayo (13:54.06). Fastest qualifiers for the 100m finals were Jamaica’s Yohan Blake (10.06) and England’s Asha Philip (11.21).
