Australia’s marathon runners opened day four of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow with gold and bronze, while the swimmers continued their post-London redemption.

For South Australians, the bronze medal run of diminutive athlete Jess Trengove was the highlight of another extraordinary day for Australia, in which it won eight gold medals to go clear of England at the top of the medal table.

Battling injury in recent months, and with her family supporting her from the sidelines, Trengove surged home in a personal-best time to ensure a podium finish.

It was a great way to start a day that delivered eight gold medals, including:

• Four in the pool, to James Maggnussen in the 100m freestyle, Belinda Hocking in the women’s 200m backstroke, Ben Treffers in the 50m backstroke and the men’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay.

• Michael Shelley, who had a stunning win in the men’s marathon.

• Two gold medals at the velodrome to Stephanie Morton in the sprint and Matthew Glaetzer in the keirin.

• Jodi Elkington in the women’s T37/38 long jump.

Australia won 11 medals overall in the pool: four gold, five silver and two bronze.

Jess’s run

Jess Trengove gave her family and friends the perfect view of the key moment in her thrilling bronze medal run in the women’s marathon .

Trengove had thought she was racing for fourth spot at best, until the crowd informed her that Namibian Helalia Johannes had fallen off the three-strong lead group.

Inspired by that prospect – and the news that compatriot Michael Shelley had won the men’s marathon – Trengove dug deep and reeled in the Namibian.

An emotional Trengove crossed the finish line in a personal-best time of two hours 30 minutes and 12 seconds behind flying Kenyans Flomena Daniel (2:26:45) and Caroline Kilel (2:27:10).

“I actually think I passed the girl in third about where my family was standing,” said Trengove.

“I’ll talk to them afterwards but I think they’ll have got a pretty good view of that.”

Among the crowd was Trengove’s younger brother Jack, who plays for AFL club Melbourne but was allowed to travel to Europe after suffering a season-ending foot injury.

“Running down that home straight was something I have never experienced before,” said Jess Trengove, who combines her running career with work as a physiotherapist in Adelaide.

“That’s certainly the most emotional I’ve ever been after a race.

“It has been a bit of a challenging build-up – I’ve really worked hard and there have been a lot of people working hard behind the scenes.

“Having my family and so many Australians out there supporting me meant the world.”

Trengove did have one nervous moment early in Sunday’s race when she missed the drinks station at the 10km mark.

She slowed down to make doubly sure she grabbed a drink at 15km, allowing Daniel and Kilel to break away.

Fellow Australians Melanie Panayiotou and Sarah Klein were eighth and 10th respectively.

Trengove backed up her impressive 11th-placed showing from last year’s world titles with another standout performance in a major championships race.

She also continued Australia’s proud record in the Commonwealth Games women’s marathon, with the country having produced at least one medallist at every Games where the event has been contested except for 1994.

The Missile fires

Magnussen’s still the king and the queen’s been deposed, but she’s not going anywhere.

James Magnussen reaffirmed himself as Australia’s fastest man in water and, while not quite redemption for his London Olympic failings – that opportunity will come in Rio in two years’ time – he’s on the way.

The world champion claimed gold in the 100m freestyle at the Commonwealth Games on Sunday, exacting revenge on teammate Cameron McEvoy and setting himself up for another crack at the Americans.

“I just wanted to get the win tonight. Reaffirm to myself I’ve still got it, still going good and now I can focus on doing the quickest race I can against the Americans at the Pan Pacs (next month),” he said.

Magnussen admitted his loss to McEvoy at the Australian trials in April had stung his pride.

“It did motivate me and I probably trained quite a bit harder between trials and here because of it,” Magnussen said.

But Anna Meares’ reign as the Commonwealth’s, and even Australia’s, fastest female cyclist is over after teammate Stephanie Morton beat her in the final of the women’s sprint.

Morton denied Meares a record sixth Commonwealth Games gold medal and then asked her training partner, mentor and friend to share top spot on the dais with her.

But it was no farewell gesture, with Meares emphatically putting an end to rumours she might retire at the Games and declaring she’s determined to defend her Olympic sprint gold medal in Rio in 2016.

“I am not done yet. Who said that?” she said.

“I will definitely be going to Rio, that is my projection.”

Matthew Glaetzer then won the keirin to claim Australia’s seventh gold medal at the velodrome to finish as the Games’ top track cycling nation, also winning eight silver and five bronze from the 17 events.

Australia won eight gold on Sunday to pull clear of England at the top of the medals table with 26 gold in a total of 73.

England has 23 gold and 57 medals in all.

The day got off to a stunning start for Australia with Michael Shelley opening the athletics program with a shock win in the marathon.

Melissa Breen cruised through to win her heat in the opening round of the 100m at Hampden Park and is in a strong position to earn a place in her first major final, while Jodi Elkington won the gold medal in the women’s para-sport long jump.

But it was in the pool where Australia’s expected dominance continued, winning four gold to bring their total to 15 out of the 28 golds so far with two days left of competition.

McEvoy backed up after the 100m to join David McKeon, Ned McKendry and Thomas Fraser-Holmes to win the 4x200m freestyle relay, while Belinda Hocking won the 200m backstroke and Ben Treffers took gold in the 50m backstroke.

Australia had to settle for bronze in sevens rugby as it fell yet again to New Zealand in the semis.

The Hockeyroos brushed Scotland aside 9-0 to take their goal tally for the Games to 22 in three games, while they haven’t been scored against.

And the netballers had a similarly massive win, thrashing Barbados 77-27.