New Delhi, England scripted their first 1-2-3 finish in track and field in 20 years as Andy Turner, William Sharman and Lawrence Clarke hit the tape in that order in the men’s 110 metres hurdles final of the 19th Commonwealth Games at the Nehru Stadium here on Friday evening.
Late in the evening’s programme, the petite Kavita Raut ran a solid race to ensure India’s first athletics medal at these games in the women’s 10,000 metres. Riding on a solid wall of sound cranked out by a quarter-full stadium, Raut was part of the leading pack for much of the race before falling behind the leaders.
Kenya racked up a one-two in the event, Grace Momanyi leading Doris Changeywo home in 32:34.11sec, almost half a minute ahead of Kavita. Kavita continued to pace herself superbly with Charlotte Purdue of England and Scotland’s Freya Murray in the second group before shaking off her pursuers with two laps to go. On the bell for the final lap she was ahead by over 20 metres and continued to extend the lead before breasting the tape in 33 minutes, 5.28 seconds and went on a celebratory lap with the tri-colour.
Otherwise, Indian athletes largely continued to disappoint the enthusiastic crowd, M. Prajusha, though bringing some cheer with a national record in the women’s triple jump and Mandeep Kaur managing a midfield finish in the women’s 400 metres.
Mayookha Johny took an early lead in the triple jump with a 13.43m effort but it was the lesser fancied Prajusha who finished the better of the two Indians in the field with a national best of 13.72m in her fourth leap which had her in third place for a while.
Jamaican Trecia Kaye Smith eventually topped with 14.19m, Ayanna Alexander of Trinidad and Tobago walked away with the silver for her 13.91m leap and Canada’s Tabia Charles outdid Prajusha for the bronze with her 13.84m effort.
On another hot and muggy evening, times and distances were nowhere near record levels with most athletes opting for a conservative approach to their events.
The Kenyans underlined their supremacy in middle and long distance races with Nancy Jebet Lan’Gat clocking a Games record time of 4:05.28 to win the women’s 1,500 metres. India’s Jhuma Khatun brought up the rear in 4:14.95.
In the women’s 400m, Mandeep entered the straight dead last starting from Lane 3 before cranking up the pace. But Botswana’s Amantle Montsho was a dominant winner, striding away from the field to clock a Games record time of 50.10 sec. She was followed home by Nigeria’s Folashade Abugan and Tabitha Pompey of Guyana.
Ankit Sharma (7.56m) and Mahan Singh (7.49m) made the cut for the long jump final in the morning session, decathletes Bharat Inder Singh and P.J. Vinod were 8th and 10th in the final standings and hammer throwers Chandrodaya Singh and Kamalpreet Singh took the 9th and 11th places in the medal showdown behind South Africa’s Christiaan Harmse.