In a morning session where all the event favourites comfortably progressed through to their respective heats there was despair for reigning champion and team England captain Andy Turner as he failed to finish his heat in the men’s 110mh after crashing into the first 3 hurdles.
Hoping to at least make the final in his attempt to retain his title from 2010, Turner got the worst possible start as he failed to clear either of the initial hurdles before pulling up on the 3rd. Sat on the floor in disbelief, he could only watch on as the race was taken by Jamaica’s Andrew Riley in 13.47.
England’s other two medallists from Dehli, William Sharman and Lawrence Clarke are still in with a chance of going at least one better 4 years on, after both came through their heats in 2nd to qualify for tonight’s final, which should be wide open following world leader Hansle Parchment’s non start.
Poster girl Eillidh Child was a class apart in the first round of the women’s 400mh as she made it 2 wins from 2 at Hampden Park taking her heat by over 1 and a half seconds, coming home in 55.56. After the race Child said she had been itching to get involved in the action: “As soon as I came down to athletes village on Sunday and the athletics started, I’ve been wanting. I’ve just been wanted to come out and get this out the way, I’m just happy to come and put in a solid performance and blow the cobwebs away.”
Her time was 2nd only to that of WL Kaliese Spencer, although the Scot’s run was far more impressive, with the Jamaican leaving it until the last 50 metres to assert her dominance.
Similarly easing through qualification was Greg Rutherford who needed just one jump to secure a place in the men’s Long Jump final as the Olympic champion leapt to 8.05m metres, to finish as top qualifier on the morning. Also comfortably through was Chris Tomlinson, who was just off automatic qualification with 7.89m. It wasn’t such an easy progression for British champion JJ Jegede who qualified in 11th after only jumping 7.66m.
It was 100% progression for the English athletes in the heats of the men’s and women’s Para-sport T54 1500m. With Paralympic stars Shelley Woods and David Weir leading the way with victories in their respective races.
Both athletes produced an extra gear of quality on their last laps to pull away from their opponents to progress through to Thursday’s finals. Finishing in 5th behind Woods in ht 2 was team mate Lauren Rowles who progressed as a fastest loser.
The final track session of the morning, the men’s 800m saw Olympic champion David Rudisha qualify for tomorrow’s semi-final as the fastest qualifier. Passing his first test of the games confidently, the Kenyan won in 1.46, as he led home the 4 fastest qualifiers including; England’s Michael Rimmer and Scotland’s Guy Learmonth.
England’s Mukhtar Mohammed also made it through as a fastest qualifier, but there will be no Andrew Osagie after he was disqualified following a last dash collision with Welshman Joe Thomas in the final metres of the race as they battled for the final automatic spot.
Over in the decathlon long-time leader Damian Warner is just two events away from taking the crown he has held onto since the first discipline. Warner leads from Grenada’s Kurt Felix with John Lane closing in behind in 3rd, on track to pick up at least bronze.
With one multi-event drawing towards its conclusion another is just opening up, as the women’s heptathlon got underway. Mirroring the start of the men’s decathlon, the competition was awoken by an electric start from a Canadian athlete, as Jessica Zelinka won the women’s 110 metre hurdles in a Commonwealth record 12.85.
Her lead was short lived and she now sits 2nd after two events with compatriot and favourite Brianne Theison-Eaton leading with 2126 points after a 1.84m leap in the high jump. Completing the top 3 is England’s Jessica Taylor who performed out of her skin in the HJ, breaking her personal best on 4 occasions to eventually end on 1.75m.
