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Games wrap: Mickle wins javelin gold

Jul 31, 2014

Australian Kim Mickle has claimed gold in the women’s javelin at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Mickle won her first Commonwealth title with a Games record throw of 65.96m, relegating two-time defending champion Sunette Viljoen, from South Africa, to the silver medal position with 63.19m.

Young Australian Kelsey-Lee Roberts saved her best for last, throwing 62.95m in the sixth round to claim the bronze medal, with the third Australian competitor, Kathryn Mitchell, coming fourth.

In the diving overnight, Australian Matthew Mitcham won a silver in the one-metre springboard event, while Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith took bronze in the women’s synchronised 3m springboard.

Since the crushing disappointment of missing the final at the London Olympics, javelin thrower Mickle has become one of the most consistently successful athletes in world track and field.

The 29-year-old from Perth claimed the silver medal at last year’s world championships in Moscow and fully justified her outright favouritism at the Glasgow Games.

Mickle was also the runner-up to Viljoen at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Australia has historically dominated the women’s javelin at Commonwealth level, with Mickle the seventh to earn the gold medal.

Mickle claimed the national record with a throw of 66.83m in March, surpassing the previous mark set by 1994 and 1998 Commonwealth Games champion Louise Currey.

Mitcham not listening to body language

Body language is everything these days for Matthew Mitcham, but unfortunately the 2008 Olympic diving champion does not like the message his body is sending him.

Mitcham, 26, admitted his body was breaking down so badly with injuries that a big part of his current game plan was “looking pretty” to bluff his way through competition.

However, it seems officials still like what they see, judging by his impressive Commonwealth Games one metre springboard silver medal at Edinburgh on Wednesday night.

Despite just eight weeks of training due to his latest ailment – an elbow tear – Mitcham nabbed his fifth silver medal at the start of his second Games campaign.

England 19-year-old Jack Laugher (449.90) took gold in the Games’ opening men’s diving event ahead of Mitcham (404.85) and Australian teammate Grant Nel (403.40).

Australia’s Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith then nabbed synchronised 3m springboard bronze.

However, defending champion Melissa Wu was left to rue an injury-ravaged preparation after she and Rachel Bugg finished last in the world-class, five-strong synchronised 10m platform final.

Mitcham looked good but admitted he may never recapture his best form after enduring a nightmare injury run.

“Looking back at my best, I am not there and I don’t know whether I will ever be there again,” the record-breaking Beijing Olympic 10m gold medallist said.

“I have had so many injuries I am working with what I have got.

“It’s pretty fragile and fallible but I am hoping to rely on experience and looking pretty and hoping the judges like that.”

After enduring two back stress fractures, a serious abdominal tear and the elbow tendon trouble since his 2008 history-making heroics, Mitcham admitted his body was trying to tell him something.

But for now, he isn’t listening.

“I think the human body is maybe not meant to do what we do for such a sustained time,” he lamented.

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“But I am still loving it. That’s why I keep putting myself through this over and over.”

Mitcham is contesting three more events at Edinburgh including head to head clashes with his English rival Tom Daley in his 10m pet event along with the synchronised platform.

“Tom has been diving very well but I don’t know where I compare with that,” Mitcham said.

London Olympic bronze medallists Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion (310.65) of Canada claimed the Games’ first diving gold in the women’s synchronised 10m, with Wu and Bugg (292.50) last.

Australia’s Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith clinched women’s synchronised 3m springboard bronze (294.72 points) behind England’s Alicia Blagg and Rebecca Gallantree (300.24).

Hockeyroos face South Africa in semis

The Hockeyroos will play South Africa for a place in the Commonwealth Games women’s hockey gold medal match.

The South Africans earned a Friday semi-final clash with the unbeaten Hockeyroos with a tight 3-2 win over India in Glasgow on Wednesday to claim second place in pool A.

The Hockeyroos were not in action, having finished on top of pool B a day earlier with a formidable 25-0 goals for and against record from their four matches.

The other semi-final pits New Zealand against pool B runner-up England.

The Kiwis thrashed Canada 6-0 to finish their pool A matches with a 100 per cent record.

England and Scotland battled it out on the field for the pool B runner-up spot, with both teams having already beaten Malaysia and Wales but lost to Australia.

England prevailed 2-1 in a hard-fought clash after Alex Danson and Susannah Townsend gave them the perfect start with a 2-0 lead after 27 minutes.

However, Scotland rallied before half-time when Nikki Kidd slammed home a penalty corner and the home side could have provided a sensational comeback in the second-half had it not been for England keeper Maddie Hinch as she made a string of fine saves.

 

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