Australian Athletes Experience Highs and Lows at Commonwealth Games

Teenage race walker Isaac Beacroft hit the accelerator on a dramatic final lap in the 10,000m then had to hit it again, celebrating Commonwealth Games gold 20 metres before the finish despite his Kenyan rival Stephen Kihu lurking just a few steps behind.

The result was the Australian highlight on a mixed day at Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow, as Sarah Billings claimed her country’s first 800m women’s bronze in 36 years, even as track and field stars Nina Kennedy, Torrie Lewis and Lachie Kennedy were left disappointed.

Beacroft, the under-20 world record holder, stormed away from Kihu with 300m to go to secure gold. “Probably the last 15 laps, I was just waiting for Kihu to go, but he never did, so I sat in, and eventually had to go,” he told Channel Seven. “I went hard, about 95%, and then I knew he was going to come with me, but then I had another gear in there to really make it over.”

He secured the breakthrough win, but not without fraying the nerves of his father and coach David. “He’s having a panic,” Beacroft told Channel Seven with a smile. “He thought I was going to get chased down, and started celebrating too early. Rubbish.”

Beacroft Sr, a former race walker himself, admitted he might have done things differently. “I just saw the guy make another surge and I’m like, ‘Oh, don’t do too much too soon’, but he held him off. It was nice, it was good, really good.”

The 19-year-old, whose celebrations and interviews in Glasgow marked the birth of a new showman in Australian athletics, now heads to Oregon to compete at the world juniors in just nine days.

Billings’ historic bronze was a mix of brain and braun, as she positioned herself well with a lap to go and pushed all the way up the final straight. The Australian finished behind English winner Georgia Hunter Bell and Kenyan Lilian Odira, last year’s world champion who Billings almost beat at the line.

While that bronze medal provided unbridled joy for Billings, a silver in the pole vault for Nina Kennedy left the Paris Olympic champion with mixed emotions. “If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry,” she said. “So I’m trying to put on a happy face right now, but look, I’m disappointed. I wanted the gold.”

In blustery conditions she cleared 4.65m but finished second on a count-back to Eliza McCartney, who won New Zealand’s second track and field gold at these Games after Zoe Hobbs’s 100m success.

Lewis, who finished third behind Hobbs in that 100m final two days ago, ran gallantly to finish sixth in the final of the 200m, won by Adaejah Hodge of the British Virgin Islands. “Not what I wanted for the 200,” Lewis said. “I made the final which was one of my goals so I’m still proud of that, and I look towards the relay.”

In the men’s 200m, Lachie Kennedy also finished sixth. The 100m silver medallist and new 9.85sec man started well but faded behind South African winner Sinesipho Dambile. “I knew if I wanted to win, I was going to have to risk it,” Kennedy said. “Look, I gave it a red hot crack. Didn’t have enough juice in the tank. Credit to the winners. But yeah, I’m gassed.”

Like Lewis, Lachie Kennedy will compete in the 4x100m relay on a busy final day of competition in Glasgow, which also includes men’s and women’s mile races. The women’s event is a chance for Jessica Hull to get one back on Claudia Hollingsworth, who caused the Paris silver medallist to fall in a controversial 1500m final at the national championships in April.