England swept the gold medals in the 4x100m relays yesterday at the Commonwealth Games, winning both the men’s and women’s races.
The men’s team of Ryan Scott, Leon Baptiste, Marlon Devonish and Mark Lewis-Francis won in 38.74 seconds at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, holding off a Jamaican team missing Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell.
Jamaica were second in 38.79 and India third in 38.89.
In the women’s sprint relay, England earned the gold by nearly a second, winning in 44.19. Katherine Endacott led off and was followed by Montell Douglas, Laura Turner and Abiodun Oyepitan.
Ghana were second in 45.24, and India again took bronze in 45.25.
Silas Kiplagat of Kenya won the men’s 1,500m in 3:41.78, and teammate James Magut was second in 3:42.27. However, defending champion Nick Willis of New Zealand helped avoid a Kenyan sweep by claiming bronze in 3:42.38.
Kiplagat and Magut were joined by another teammate, Gideon Mathimba, at the front of the pack for most of the race, with Willis just behind them. But as Kiplagat and Magut started to pull away on the back straight, Mathimba couldn’t keep up, eventually finishing in fifth place behind Chaminda Indika Wijekoon of Sri Lanka.
Diminutive Kenyan world champion Vivian Cheruiyot strode to the women’s 5,000m gold in a time of 15:55.12 seconds.
She led a Kenyan clean sweep with Syliva Kibet second (15:55.61) and Ines Chenonge (16:02.47) third.
It was always going to be hard to look beyond a Kenyan 1-2-3 with the only other woman in the hunt being Scotland’s Stephanie Twell, who was distanced with one lap to go and she finally finished fourth.
Cheruiyot was always in charge yesterday, dictating the race and sprinting away from Kibet, the world silver medalist, comfortably in the final 200m.
Australia’s Jarrod Bannister threw 81.71m to win the men’s javelin gold medal.
New Zealand’s Stuart Farquhar came second (78.15) and India’s Kashinath Naik took the bronze (74.21).
Away from the track, Alexandre Despatie won his ninth Commonwealth Games diving gold after he and fellow Canadian Reuben Ross won the men’s 3m springboard synchro title.
Despatie, 25, won his first gold in the Commonwealth Games as a 13-year-old in Kuala Lumpur and could make it 10 if he wins the 10m platform competition today.
In the two other finals, Canada’s Jennifer Abel won gold in the women’s 1m springboard while Tom Daley and Max Brick took the men’s 10m platform synchro title for England.
ADVANTAGE ATLETICO: Well off the pace in La Liga, the Copa del Rey represents Atletico Madrid’s best chance of silverware this season Atletico Madrid on Thursday hammered Copa del Rey holders Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg of their semi-final. After an Eric Garcia own-goal sent Diego Simeone’s side ahead early on, Antoine Griezmann, Ademola Lookman and Julian Alvarez struck to give Atletico a landslide lead by halftime. Barca defender Garcia was sent off in the final stages, with Atletico maintaining their significant advantage on the record 32-time winners, which they take into the second leg at the Camp Nou on March 3. Both sides missed good chances in the second half, with Barca’s Pau Cubarsi having a goal disallowed before Garcia was sent off
Dasun Shanaka hammered the fastest half-century by a Sri Lankan in T20Is as the cohosts thrashed Oman by 105 runs at the World Cup yesterday in Pallekele, Sri Lanka, for their second win in Group B. The 2014 champions piled up 225-5, the highest total of the tournament, before restricting an outclassed Oman to 120-9. The 43-year-old Mohammad Nadeem waged a lone battle for Oman, compiling an unbeaten 53 to become the oldest player to score a 50 in T20 World Cups. Having promoted himself up the order and under pressure to deliver, Sri Lanka skipper Shanaka smashed a 19-ball half-century. It has been
Kawhi Leonard on Sunday scored 41 points, grabbed eight rebounds and made four steals to lead the Los Angeles Clippers in a lopsided 115-96 victory at Minnesota. The 34-year-old forward, a two-time NBA champion, matched the second-best road scoring effort of his career as the Clippers improved to 25-27. “Just being aggressive. My teammates trust me,” Leonard said. “Every moment when I touch the ball — assist, shooting the basketball or getting a rebound — I’m just trying to help the team win.” Leonard made three steals in a row at the start of the contest. “Just wanted to come out early in the
FLOP TO CONQUEROR: It was sweet vindication for Sam Darnold, who played for four NFL teams before his debut season in Seattle ended in the ultimate win The Seattle Seahawks on Sunday coasted to Super Bowl glory, routing the New England Patriots 29-13 as Sam Darnold sealed his journey from flop quarterback to conqueror of the NFL’s biggest prize. Brushing off a reputation for wilting in big games, journeyman quarterback Darnold threw for a touchdown and 200 yards on the grandest stage of all to give the Seahawks their second-ever Lombardi Trophy. “It’s unbelievable. Everything that has happened in my career, but to do it with this team, I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Darnold said. The victory was buoyed by a dominant defensive display and kicker Jason Myers’
RSS