BIRMINGHAM: Australia’s Oliver Hoare used a devastating late kick to claim a surprise win in the Commonwealth Games men’s 1,500 metres yesterday, as Scotland’s newly minted world champion Jake Wightman was denied a golden double.
After Wightman’s stunning victory at the worlds a little over two weeks ago in Eugene, Oregon, a capacity crowd packed into a sun-kissed Alexander Stadium with hopes of watching the Scotsman do it again.
But the roars were not enough to lift Wightman to the top of the podium as Hoare timed his move to perfection down the home stretch, coming from fourth to pip Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot at the line for gold.
Hoare, who did not make it out of the semi-finals at the worlds, finished in a Games record time of three minutes, 30.12 seconds with Cheruiyot just 0.09 seconds back to take silver and Wightman settling for bronze.
There was also gold for Australia in the 10,000m race walk, Jemima Montag lapping the entire field with the exception of the other two women joining her on the podium, Priyanka Goswami of India taking silver and Emily Wamusyi Ngii of Kenya bronze.
High jump world champion Eleanor Patterson was also denied a golden double, the Australian settling for silver as Jamaica’s Lamara Distin took top spot with a height of 1.95m.
The men’s 3,000m steeplechase produced a nailbiter, with Kenya’s Abraham Kibiwot beating India’s Avinash Mukund Sable for the gold by a wafer-thin 0.05 seconds.
England’s Nick Miller was the winner of the men’s hammer throw with an effort of 76.43m, with silver going to Canada’s Ethan Katzberg.