Beacroft makes golden Commonwealth Games debut

A teenage triumph from race walker Isaac Beacroft stole the show on the penultimate day at Scotstourn Stadium, where middle-distance runner Sarah Billings secured Australia’s first 800m medal in 36 years and teenage Para Athletics stars shone.

Nineteen-year-old Beacroft walked his way into Commonwealth Games history with a clinical performance in the Men’s 10,000m Race Walk, breaking away with Stephan Ndangiri Kihu (KEN) in a two-man showdown over 25 laps.

Beacroft slammed the accelerator down the back straight of the final lap, opening up a lead on his Kenyan rival before asking the crowd to stand and applaud in the home straight as he won gold in 38:45.51.

“He was kind of talking to me the entire race, telling me to go around and lead it. I was just saying ‘in your dreams champ’ and I knew he would come back around me,” Beacroft said. “It’s rare that we get to race with a stadium crowd because we are usually on the roads. Being on the track was really special for me and I think I thrived off those cheers.” 

“It’s good to be here and to have a good first Commonwealth Games experience.”

Kihu was forced to settle for the silver in 38:46.57, while Declan Tingay took fourth place in 40:03.39 after serving a one-minute penalty and Timothy Fraser was disqualified.

Olympic pole vault champion Nina Kennedy added Commonwealth silver to her decorated resume with a 4.65m clearance; the same height as winner Eliza McCartney (NZL) who secured the title on countback.

A first-attempt miss at 4.65m from Kennedy was all it took to separate the pair. 

““I’m superhuman most of the time but I’m also human a lot of the time,” Kennedy said.

“The Commonwealth Games is so much fun and sometimes sport is about more than just the medals.” 

Struggling to harness the cold and blustery conditions, Kennedy was all-class in defeat. 

“Eliza handled the conditions better and that’s why she is walking away with the gold,” Kennedy said.

“People forget, Eliza is an Olympic bronze medallist and held the Oceania record for seven years. She is a really good jumper and I love competing against her, I’m genuinely happy for her.”

Australian record holder Sarah Billings landed her first senior international medal with bronze in a star-studded Women’s 800m field, rounding out a dream championships characterised by confidence and class.

Billings latched onto Olympic medallist Georgia Hunter Bell (ENG) who broke the race apart with 200m remaining to win in 1:59.51, as Billings held on for bronze in 2:00.61 – just 0.03-seconds behind silver medallist Lilian Odira (KEN).

“I can’t believe that I’m on the podium with them. They are incredible athletes and now I just have to believe that I am too,” Billings said.

Adding to the medal tally in the morning session was veteran wheelchair racer Eliza Ault-Connell who won bronze in the Women’s 1500m T54, a staggering 24 years after her first Commonwealth Games medal which she won in Manchester in 2002.

The event was a re-run of the original final in which Ault-Connell crashed through no fault of her own, this time taking bronze in 3:40.84 in the race which was won by hometown hero Melanie Woods (SCO) in 3:32.20. 

Ault-Conell led home debutant Mikaela Dingley who finished sixth place, before the pair returned for the Women’s 400m T54 heats alongside Aimee Fisher, where Ault-Connell and Fisher advanced to tomorrow’s final.

Joining the Para Athletics podium party were teenage debutants Layla Sharp and Ayla Kowalczyk who both won medals in the Women’s Long Jump T38, as Sharp leapt to a new Australian record of 5.06m (+1.7) for silver, while 15-year-old Kowalczyk produced the best jump of her life at 4.71m (+1.1). 

“I’m happy to get over five metres and my last jump was my best jump, so I’m happy with that,” Sharp said. “I’ve been doing it in training and was waiting for it to come out in competition. It was so close to gold, which sucks, but we have a lot more competitions to come with the World Championships and Paralympics.” 

Busy schedules finally caught up to Lachlan Kennedy and Torrie Lewis who held their own across the Men’s and Women’s 200m finals, with Kennedy taking home sixth place in 20.41 (+1.7) and Lewis clocking 22.88 (+1.7) – also finishing in sixth. 

Sarah Carli produced a valiant sixth-place finish in the Women’s 400m Hurdles when stoppin the clock in 55.85-seconds in the hotly contested affair which was won by Sanique Walker (JAM) in 54.00-seconds, while javelin thrower Cameron McEntyre finished in 11th place with a 72.34m throw to conclude the finals action.

Brooke Buschkuehl led the Women’s Long Jump Qualification when leaping to a season’s best of 6.83m (+1.8) to qualify first for the final, as 19-year-old Delta Amidzovski also progressed with a 6.55m (+2.4) jump. 

Australia’s Mixed 4x400m team of Luke Van Ratingen, Mia Gross, Cooper Sherman and Jemma Pollard also cruised into tomorrow’s final, completing the circuit in a time of 3:15.21 to rank third overall.

The Athletics and Para Athletics will return for one final day tomorrow at Scotstoun Stadium, with the first event scheduled for 10:05am local time.

Commonwealth Games Australia