Paralympic great Kurt Fearnley was struggling to contain his emotions as he contemplated his silver medal in the men’s 1500m T54 in Glasgow being his last attempt at the distance at a major Games.
But he shot to the other end of the emotional spectrum moments later when told his training partner and friend of more than 20 years Angie Ballard had won gold in the women’s 1500m.
Fearnley first met Ballard when he was 11 years old at a junior camp on Sydney’s northern beaches, and said her rise to gold was a story as inspiring as they come.
Ballard has been a perennial minor medallist at major Games, winning silvers and bronze in Athens, Beijing and London Paralympics.
But in her first ever podium finish at a Commonwealth Games, Ballard went straight to the top – blitzing Canadian Diane Roy over the last 200m to win in style at a rain-soaked Hampden Park.
Fearnley’s reaction said it all.
“Ballard?” he asked.
“She did not!
“I don’t know what to say. I’ve known Ange since we were 11 … throwing balls at each other’s heads.
“That is the best. If there’s ever a good news story about effort, absolute uncompromising drive to do what she does – it’s Angie Ballard. I feel so happy now.”
Fearnley wasn’t so happy a few minutes before.
Beaten by English champion David Weir for gold again over the final 200m, three-time Paralympic gold medalist Fearnley revealed he may quit the 1500m ahead of Rio to focus all his attention on the marathon.
“I’ll never retire from racing marathons; they’ll just roll me over into the gutter and put my headstone on, I think,” he said.
“But I don’t think there’s many at all, if any, where I’ll push a 1500m again.
“I think it was more emotional tonight knowing that I think it’s one of those last few times I get those emotions.”
Ballard, 32 revelled in the wet conditions she described as like “snorkeling”.
“I’m still looking to complete the set (and get gold) at a Paralympics. Silver is great, bronze is great, but first is awesome any day,” she said.
Australia also picked up three more silver medals overnight (Cycling Men’s Individual Time Trial, Rohan Dennis; Gymnastics Artistic Women’s Uneven Bars, Larrissa Miller; Lawn Bowls Women’s Triples, Lynsey Clarke, Karen Murphy, Kelsey Cottrell) and two bronze medals (Women’s Individual Time Trial, Katrin Garfoot; Men’s 105kg+, Damon Kelly).
England sits at the top of the medal table, with 44 gold, 40 silver and 39 bronze, followed by Australia with 36 gold, 36 silver and 41 bronze.
Aussies break through for gymnastics medal
It took until the penultimate day of competition, but Larrissa Miller ensured Australia finally broke through for a first gymnastics medal at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
Miller won silver in the uneven bars apparatus final, the 22-year-old’s flawless routine earning her a score of 14.566 – just 0.1 behind the effort of Rebecca Downie – who won England’s seventh gymnastics gold in Glasgow.
Silver medal winner Larrissa Miller with Rebecca Downie and Ruby Harrold of England. Photo: AP
It has been lean times, however, for the Aussies, though they were unlucky not to have a second medal in Thursday’s last apparatus final, with veteran Naoya Tsukahara doing little wrong in finishing just 0.066 off the podium on the rings.
But Miller’s performance – and that of 19-year-old Georgia-Rose Brown to finish fifth in the same final – offers some ray of hope for the future.
Along with former world champion Lauren Mitchell – who will compete in the beam and floor apparatus finals on Friday – Miller and Brown will form the nucleus of the Australian team that will look to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“It’s crazy, I didn’t even think I would make the Commonwealth Games to start with. To win a medal is incredible,” Miller said.
“I went in really confident today and I did a good warm up. I knew that I was going to hit my routine.
“Now I think, ‘maybe I’m good enough’. Now I have a taste for it.”
Tsukahara appeared hard done by in missing a medal.
His routine had a higher difficulty value than both silver medallist Kevin Lytwyn and Scotland’s Daniel Purvis (bronze), and despite a clean routine, was marked down for his execution.
He will have another chance to get on the podium with the parallel bars and high beam apparatus finals on Friday.
It looked like being another England gold rush at The Hydro on Thursday, when Max Whitlock (floor) and Claudia Fragapane (vault) won the opening two apparatus finals as they each collected their third gold medals of the Games.
Scotland’s Daniel Keatings stopped the run when he was a popular winner on the pommel horse – with Whitlock relegated to silver – while it was a Canada 1-2 on the rings, with Scott Morgan taking the gold ahead of Lytwyn.
Garfoot is a new cycling star
Katrin Garfoot’s cycling bronze medal came from a question posed only two months ago.
Everything about the 33-year-old’s cycling career so far has been last-minute and unexpected.
Garfoot announced herself as a new star of Australian cycling on Thursday when she finished third in the Commonwealth Games time trial.
Eight years ago, Katrin Kovacs was a German school teacher holidaying on the Gold Coast when she met Australian Chris Garfoot.
Within two years, they were married and he had convinced the former track and field athlete to take up road racing. Garfoot gained Australian citizenship last October and in early June was picked on the Games team.
At that point, three-time national champion Shara Gillow was Australia’s only time trial starter.
So women’s road coach Martin Barras asked other members of the team if they’d like a start as well.
The only rider to say yes was Garfoot.
What really excited team officials about her ride was that Garfoot had the fastest last split in the 29.6km race, ahead of gold medallist Linda Villumsen and second-placed Emma Pooley.
Those two are among the very best time trial riders in women’s cycling.
“Her age is irrelevant – there’s more to come,” said Cycling Australia national performance director Kevin Tabotta.
“There’s a lot of ‘up’ – she executed the course like a true professional.”
But Garfoot’s medal also left Felicity Wardlaw thinking: “What if?”
Wardlaw won the Australian title in January and her camp remains angry she did not make the Games team.
Whitelaw was gracious, posting photos of Garfoot and her medal on Twitter, but admitted in a post that it was hard to watch.
Garfoot also showed her class when asked about Whitelaw, saying she hopes they will ride the time trial at this year’s world road championships.
“Of course I wish Flick Wardlaw was here, I think she would have deserved a spot,” Garfoot said.
Women’s triples bowlers lose final
Australia’s lawn bowlers didn’t have a chance.
The women’s triples were playing Commonwealth Games nemesis England and the men’s fours were up against a Scottish quartet roared on by a raucous home crowd at Kelvingrove.
The women ended up with silver, the men will have to play for bronze and Australia’s vaunted bowls team full of world champions will leave Glasgow without gold.
The women’s triples team of Lynsey Clarke, Karen Murphy and Kelsey Cottrell were overwhelmed by England in the final and actually conceded defeat after 15 of the 18 ends wile trailing 23-4.
But the men had to take on more than four Scotsmen and heavy rain.
Framed by the gothic grandeur of Glasgow University, Kelvingrove Museum and the terraces on the evocative Sauciehall St, every vantage point around Green Four was packed.
Around 600 raincoat-clad Scots packed the green, with the security men on the gate expecting an easy gig at the genteel bowls forced to call for calm from irate fans who were turned away.
When Alex Marshall picked up two shots for the Scots in the eighth end when he pierced the narrowest of gaps, the sight of a pot-bellied bald man turning to the crowd with arms raised and receiving high fives from his teammates was daunting, if not a bit disturbing.
With this momentum and crowd support against them, the Australian foursome of Wayne Ruediger, Brett Wilkie, Nathan Rice and Matthew Flapper tried to turn it in their favour, but to no avail as they went down 15-10.
“It was a great atmosphere,” Wilkie said.
“We try to feed off that and turn it around and use it as encouragement for us, but the Scots were just awesome tonight.”
The same could be said about the English who left Murphy with mixed emotions.
“If someone had said to us before we left home that we’d win silver on these greens, we would have taken it,” Murphy said.
“But I suppose to lose in that fashion after playing so bloody well all week is disappointing.”
The women’s pair of Carla Odgers and Natasha Scott lost 16-11 to Jersey in the quarters and men’s single Aron Sherriff lost his semi to Scotland’s Darren Burnett and will play New Zealander Shannon McIlroy for bronze on Friday.
