Thanks for joining us today on very busy first day of action – there is another packed schedule coming up tomorrow, so we will see you then.
Don’t forget to follow along with the seismic Neighbours finale right here:
Today’s news reports, features, galleries ... and the opening ceremony gallery, too:
Men’s hockey: Scotland have roared out of the starting blocks on day one. They now lead New Zealand 5-1 at half time in their opening men’s hockey match.
They already have one gold, one silver and six bronze medals in the bag.
Australia finish the day with eight gold medals from a possible 16, which is some going. Their performances in the pool, in particular, were simply outstanding.
New Zealand have three, England have two.
Here is the full medal table:
Men’s rugby sevens: The latest results and scores from this evening –
Pool B
South Africa 36-5 Tonga
Pool C
Wales 38-5 Zambia
(Latest score) Fiji 12-0 Canada
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Men’s hockey: England kicked off with a 6-0 win against Ghana. Goals from Nicholas Bandurak (3), David Condon, William Canlan and Phillip Roper.
After snaffling silver in the freestyle relay, Lewis Burras says: “Tonight I wanted to go out and use the home advantage ... swimming it our passion, and we get to make a career out of our passion. Not many people can say that, so I feel very privileged to be here.”
Swimming: On the BBC Clare Balding says, because Australia have been so dominant in the pool today, that we should all pipe down and listen to the Advance, Australia Fair with Zac Stubblety-Cook standing atop the podium after his 200m breaststroke gold. #Respect #SwimmingValues
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James Wilby speaks after winning silver in the 200m breaststroke: “It was such an incredible race ... to come away with a medal, really happy with that. It’s been a rollercoaster after the [Olympic] Games last year ... it’s always one of those one we want to put in a good effort. Really happy with that.”
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Gold for Australia in the Mixed 4x100m freestyle relay final!
Swimming: Yes, you guessed it: Australia win the Mixed 4x100m freestyle relay final in a time of 3mins 21.18secs. England seconds, Canada third.
Swimming: It’s time for the Mixed 4x100m freestyle relay, which is nice.
“Ten, nine, eight, no wait, I’ve got ahead of myself, nine, eight, seven … ” The Birmingham Commonwealth Games began with this out-of-synch countdown in (and yes I had to triple check this) Royal Leamington Spa, where, at just gone eight on Friday morning, 80 finely-honed athletes filed out of a little wooden pavilion in Victoria Park to begin the first of nine days of ruthlessly competitive lawn bowls. Friendly Games my foot. Go tell it to Wales’ five-time world champion Laura Daniels, who wiped out a 59-year-old Falkland Islander called Daphne Arthur-Almond 21-2 while you were finishing your breakfast.
Artistic gymnastics: England, Canada and Cyprus are coming out for their medal presentation. They get a huge cheer from the crowd. And the English team looks thrilled, as well they might, having dominated the event from start to finish.
Gold for Zac Stubblety-Cook in the men's 200m breaststroke!
A thrilling race sees the favourite, Zac Stubblety-Cook of Australia, win gold in 2min 08.07secs. James Wilby of England pushes him all the way, though, and claims the silver, with Ross Murdoch of Scotland winning bronze as the fantastic Scottish start to these Games continues!
Murdoch yells with delight and flexes his muscles while still in the water ... what a performance!
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Amid all the Australian success in the swimming pool, among other places, I should probably tell you that we are live-blogging the Neighbours finale. A historic day indeed. Bid farewell to Madge, Harold, Mrs Mangel et al right here:
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Gold for England in the men's team artistic gymnastics!
Canada claim silver and Cyprus win the bronze, their first medal in this discipline. History made by Cyprus, and an accomplished team performance by England.
The final podium:
England – 254.550
Canada – 241.200
Cyprus – 239.650
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Women’s rugby sevens: Today’s results are as follows –
Pool A
England 57-0 Sri Lanka
New Zealand 45-7 Canada
New Zealand 60-0 Sri Lanka
Canada 26-19 England
Pool B
Australia 38-0 South Africa
Fiji 31-12 Scotland
Fiji 41-0 South Africa
Australia 50-0 Scotland
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Men’s rugby sevens: Scotland run out 50-12 winners against Malaysia in Pool B.
Swimming: Various medal ceremonies are now taking place for the earlier finals. The men’s 100m backstroke semi-final is the next event up in the pool.
Men’s rugby sevens: Scotland are beating Malaysia 43-12 in the second half of their Pool B match.
Artistic gymnastics: England are streaking away to victory in the men’s team final: After the fifth rotation, they top the table with a score of 212.650. Canada are next best, with 202.550, Cyprus now in third with 201.750.
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Men’s rugby sevens: New Zealand, remarkably, fight back from 17-0 down at half-time to win 19-17. The Samoans look gutted, as well they might. New Zealand will top Pool A.
It was a late try from Caleb Tangitau that won it!
TRY | The young gun Caleb Tangitau shows off his pace to put one down 🏎
— NZ Sevens (@nz_sevens) July 29, 2022
NZL 19 - 17 SAM#B2022 | #NZSevens | #NZLvSAM
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Men’s rugby sevens: Having trailed 17-0, New Zealand now lead 19-17 in a game that will decide who tops the pool ...
Men’s rugby sevens: England ran out 47-19 winners against Sri Lanka: now Samoa are beating New Zealand 12-17 in the second half ... Samoa were winning 17-0 at half-time.
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Australia have nabbed nine medals in five swimming finals so far this evening ...
Toni Shaw speaks after her bronze medal: “I’m so, so happy ... I’m just really happy. It’s just an amazing experience to be part of Team Scotland, we don’t get to do it very often.”
Gold for Sophie Pascoe in the women's 100m freestyle S9!
Pascoe defends the title she won four years ago in a hugely exciting race as she just holds off Emily Beecroft of Australia! The winning time is 1min 02.95secs ... Meanwhile Toni Shaw grabs another medal for Scotland – it’s bronze and their fifth medal of the games already.
There is an emotional moment as she gives a big hug and a kiss to Ellie Cole, the Australian who is bowing out after this race, and who was racing in the next lane. Clearly a lot of affection and respect betweenn the two athletes.
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Compelling images aplenty in our Commonwealth Games gallery:
Gold for Tim Hodge in the men's 100m backstroke!
Australia continue to dominate in the pool this evening: A new Games record of 1min 01.88sec for Tim Hodge who beats Jesse Reynolds of New Zealand into the silver-medal position. It’s a first Commonwealth Games medal for Northern Ireland, for Barry McClements! A fine achievement.
Women’s netball: In Pool A, Jamaica have defeated Wales 72-43 in their opening match. Earlier on, Australia hammered Barbados 95-18, and (as previously stated) England beat Trinidad & Tobago 74-22.
Men’s rugby sevens: England are taking on Sri Lanka and they lead 19-0 with 60 seconds of the first half remaining.
A few bits of news from today ...
Artistic gymnastics: Scotland are up to third in the table in the men’s artistic team final after an excellent effort on the parallel bars.
Katie Shanahan, who is understandably both out of breath and very emotional, speaks to the BBC after her bronze medal in the women’s 400m medley: “I’m so happy, this season’s not been the season I wanted it to be ... never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I was going to get a medal in my first Commonwealth Games, I am so happy. I could see all the girls coming at me, and I was thinking, I need to hurry up here ... I just gave it my all. I’m so happy right now.”
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Men’s hockey: England lead Ghana 1-0 after the first quarter in pool B.
Gold for Ariarne Titmus in the women's 200m freestyle!
Mollie O’Callaghan pushed her all the way but it’s a gold medal for the Olympic champion. It’s another one-two-three for Australia, with Madison Wilson coming home third. Titmus and O’Callaghan embrace while still in the water ... that was a big and probably unexpected scare for Titmus.
Titmus’s time of 1min 53.89secs is a Commonwealth Games record.
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Gold for Summer McIntosh in the women’s 400m medley!
1) Summer McIntosh (Canada) 4min 29.01secs
2) Kiah Melverton (Australia) 4min 36.78secs
3) Katie Shanahan (Scotland) 4.39.37secs
A sensational performance from the 15-year-old McIntosh, who destroys the field, and a wonderful effort from Shanahan of Scotland to take bronze. It’s a new Games record for McIntosh, and a first gold medal of these Games for Canada.
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Swimming: The races are going to come thick and fast this evening. Now it’s time for the final of the women’s 400m individual medley.
Gold for Elijah Winnington in the men's 400m freestyle!
A stunning performance by the Australian and the team: it’s a one, two, three with Winnington first, Sam Short second to take silver, and Mack Horton wins bronze.
Winnington’s winning time is 3.43.06secs. The favourite takes it down in a time fully two seconds quicker than Short, the silver medalist, who comes home in 3.45.07secs.
Daniel Wiffin, of Northern Ireland, is fourth, Luke Turley of England fifth, Daniel Jervis (Wales) finished eighth.
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Swimming: The men’s 400m freestyle final is first on the menu this evening, and is scheduled to begin at 7.07pm.
Dan Jervis, the Welsh competitor, gets a big cheer as he walks out into the arena. He will be in lane one.
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Artistic gymnastics: After rotation three in the men’s team final, England lead the way with a score of 125.300. Canada are second, with 123.050, Australia third with 121.750.
One of England’s team sprint silver medalists, Ryan Owens, speaks to Jill Dougals on the BBC: “You couldn’t tell, with how incredible the crowd was here, whether you were up or down ... I swing off pretty early and I get a good view of the whole event, it was an adrenaline rush watching that ... it was a great run-out from the boys ... we didn’t quite have enough, they’re flying at the moment, but it was a good day out, I’d say.”
Joe Truman adds: “Goosebumps all day with this crowd, it’s been a while since we had a crowd like this. It was amazing for the start line, even for the qualifiers this morning, it was buzzing.”
Meanwhile, the BBC pundit Chris Hoy points out that Australia’s time in that team sprint final would have won Olympic gold by 0.6secs at the Olympics in 2012.
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Gold for Australia in the men's team sprint!
Australia’s power-packed Matthew Glaetzer rounds off a dominant win to claim gold in a time of 42.040secs. The gap between the teams was a massive 1.332secs. They both started well, but Leigh Hoffman was quicker with a lap of 17secs on the nose. Matthew Richardson turned in a strong second leg and Glaetzer put the cherry on the cake. Glaetzer has won gold in the Keirin twice now, in 2014 and 2018, and is bidding to become the third track rider to win three consecutive golds in the same event (thank you Simon Brotherton on the BBC for that factoid).
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Track cycling: It’s Hoffman, Richardson and Glaetzer for Australia v Owens, Turnbull and Truman for England in the men’s team sprint final.
Bronze for New Zealand in the men's team sprint!
Sam Webster seals it for the Kiwis in an emphatic bronze-medal race win against Canada, a time of 43.856secs. Australia v England, now for the gold medal.
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Track cycling: New Zealand v Canada now in the men’s bronze-medal race in the team sprint.
Gold for New Zealand in the women's team sprint!
Ellesse Andrews, who dropped out of the team pursuit earlier, does the business with a telling final leg. New Zealand win gold in another new Games record (this three-rider version of the event is new, after all), a time of 47.425secs. They finish 0.576secs ahead of Canada.
Bronze for Wales in the women's team sprint!
Emma Finucane brings it home for Wales on the track! That was a great ride by their three-rider team, they took the initiative early, and didn’t let it slip. They win bronze in a new Games record of 47.767secs, 0.356 ahead of Australia! Now time for the final: New Zealand v Canada.
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Track cycling: Time for the bronze-medal ride-off in the women’s team sprint. It’s Australia v Wales ...
Men’s artistic gymnastics: James Hall now pulls off an excellent routine on the pommel horse for England as they aim to defend their title.
Men’s artistic gymnastics: ... is the latest sport that I will be trying to work out on the fly. Thanks for holding the fort, by the way John.
Australia are up now, on the vault, and Clay Mason Stephens nails an incredible double twist jump which he lands as clean as a whistle.
Until the swimming finals start this evening, the men’s artistic team gymnastics final is taking the focus, with Cyprus looking good amidst contenders from Wales, Scotland and England.
Some news from the women’s cricket, as Raf Nicholson reports on the England team.
Women’s cricket is making its debut appearance at the Games, in a Twenty20 tournament at Edgbaston between 29 July and 7 August. Knight has received an injection in her hip in a bid to soothe some irritation in the joint, having missed the final two T20s of the multiformat series against South Africa, and hopes to be fit to return in the remaining matches. Meanwhile, Nat Sciver will deputise as skipper for the Sri Lanka fixture.
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“We can’t turn down a silver at the Commies,” says Ollie Wood, the English team pursuit silver medallist, who points to illness and a lack of preparation time hampering progress, though with New Zealand in such form, and Australia looking so strong, they will take that.
That was New Zealand’s first team pursuit gold since Auckland 1990, and some emotion among their team. Their first of these games, too. They had just too much for England despite Dan Bigham’s great heave at the end.
OUR FIRST 🥇 GOLD 🥇
— The New Zealand Team (@TheNZTeam) July 29, 2022
How good was that from for our 4000m Men’s Team Pursuit track cyclists 🤩
Make that medal number 3 👊🔥
Well and truly #EARNED 🌿#KoTātauTeKapaAotearoa #WeAreTheNZTeam@CyclingNZL pic.twitter.com/RT7V9V5i87
New Zealand win the men's 4000m team pursuit gold!
So, the race for gold, New Zealand v England, over 16 laps, and it’s New Zealand who start well, England slowing up a bit, the gap around half a second, then 0-7 at half-distance. Aaron Gates drives on for New Zealand, but the gap starts to narrow. No mistakes made so far, as Ollie Wood powers on England and New Zealand down to three, then England drop down as Wood drops out. The gap is 1.5 seconds and New Zealand look likely to hang on. Dan Bigham takes it on for England, and they can’t hold the wheel as New Zealand hold their shape, and set a Commonwealth record in coming in to claim gold. England were under the old record, too, but were well beaten. That race was New Zealand’s from the very start.
It’s Wales v Australia, in the battle for bronze in the men’s cycling team pursuit. Sixteen laps of the Stratford Velodrome, as in east London, not “upon-Avon”, and the Australians, fancied for overall gold before the event, set off at quite a rate, though go down to three men as they lead by two seconds. Josh Duffy has dropped out but his team are firmly in control as the bell comes. They take the bronze by over three seconds, and that goes to Australia, just too strong for Wales, who rode well, particularly at the start.
That Wales 0-4 Canada result in the women’s hockey confirmed.
FULL TIME: HOCKEY 🏴0-4🇨🇦
— Team Wales 🏴 Tîm Cymru (@TeamWales) July 29, 2022
A difficult loss for our women but they will bounce back for tomorrow’s match vs India tomorrow. #tîmcymru #birmingham2022@HockeyWales
Alex Marshall, by the way, is a bowls legend, while Fachie has a further chance to pass his compatriot on the velodrome.
Some quotes from Fachie, via the BBC.
It’s something I’ve spoken about for a while, as you can here my voice has gone. I’ve been quite ill and that made that all the more tough.
But I was determined to win for Scotland, for my family, my wife and my baby to come. I’m just so, so proud. I came into this knowing it would take something super-human. I’m not getting any younger and I am having to get quicker, quicker - so kudos to the Welsh, and to our English counterparts.
Neil now joins Alex Marshall on five golds at the top of the list of Team Scotland's most successful athletes of all time! 🏴
— Team Scotland (@Team_Scotland) July 29, 2022
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In the women’s hockey, it’s currently Wales 0-4 Canada, with about five minutes left of the game, so not much chance for a famous comeback.
I shall mind the shop while Luke tucks into some finest Brum delicacies, rounded off with some Bourneville chocolate. The medal ceremony is taking place for the men’s pursuits, as England and Wales collect bronze as Scotland’s Neil Fachie, with partner, Lewis Stewart, collect gold for the men’s B 1000m tandem, for Fachie’s fifth gold, and his country’s first of the games.
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Women’s hockey: Canada are now cruising and 3-0 up against Wales.
Now, I shall hand over over to John Brewin for the next little while.
Laura Kenny speaks after winning bronze: “I don’t think I’ve ever felt so much pressure to win a bronze ... Stepping on the side line I was a whole bag of nerves, it was like the Olympics ... I felt a real sense of pressure.”
Gold for Australia in the women's 4000m team pursuit
It’s a new Games record of 4min 12.234sec for Australia, hammering New Zealand by 5.750secs. As Simon Brotherton says on commentary, they made that look easy.
Track cycling: Now for the final in the women’s 4000m team pursuit: Australia v New Zealand. New Zealand immediately go down, deliberately, to three riders with one eye on the team sprint later. On commentary Chris Boardman questions the tactic, calling it “Really disappointing ... it’s difficult if not impossible to beat Australia with three riders,” he says.
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Bronze for England in the women's 4000m team pursuit!
Track cycling: Laura Kenny and co. take it from Wales by 1.79sec, in a time of 4min 17.096secs.
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Women’s hockey: Canada now lead Wales 2-0 in the third quarter.
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Track cycling: Now it’s England v Wales in the Women’s 4000m Team Pursuit bronze medal race ...
Neil Fachie speaks after winning his fifth Commonwealth Games gold: “It’s something I’ve spoken about for a while [equalling Scotland’s medal record] ... as you can here my voice has gone, I’ve been quite ill, fortunately it’s not Covid so I’m allowed to race ... it just made it all the more tough but I was so determined to win for Scotland, for my family here, for my wife ... all that emotion just drove me through the last two laps.”
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Scotland's Neil Fachie wins gold in the men’s tandem B 1000m time trial!
Gold for Scotland, silver for Wales (Ball), and bronze for England (Bate).
1) Fachie / Pilot: Stewart – 59.938secs
2) Ball / Pilot: Rotherham – 1min 0.53secs
3) Bate/ Pilot: Latham – 1.02.276secs
That means Fachie is now Scotland’s joint-winningest Commonwealth Games athlete, with five gold medals in his career. He and Stewart had time to make up but they pulled it out of the bag at the end.
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Track cycling: Here comes Neil Fachie of Scotland.
Track cycling: Wales! James Ball moves into the lead in the final of the tandem B 1000m time trial, clocking a new Games record time of 1min 0.53secs. He is guaranteed a silver medal now.
Track cycling: England’s Stephen Bate sets the fastest time in the tandem B 1000m time trial – 1min 02.276secs – and brings a massive roar from the crowd, some of whom are waving flags enthusiastically and swigging beers.
Track cycling: The men’s tandem B 1000m time trial has begun. Apologies for any confusion just then over what cycling is happening now, in real-time, and what isn’t ... Anyway: England’s tandem sets off to a huge roar.
Women’s Hockey: Canada 0-0 Wales in the second quarter.
There’s also a bit of football on this weekend, of course. Karen Carney writes that England’s Lionesses have a chance to change the women’s game forever in Sunday’s Euro 2022 final against Germany:
In other news, Marianne Vos won Tour de France Femmes stage six – of course she did – to extend her lead in the general classification:
Track cycling: Ah, got them now. Jason Kenny, now the British team’s men’s sprint coach is pictured chatting to an athlete. The first event on the schedule is the Women’s Tandem B Sprint. First of all the tandem teams will set a lap time, which will set the seedings for the following competition.
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Track cycling: There seem to be no live pictures from the velodrome at the moment, but I am keeping ’em peeled.
Chloe Merrell reports from the NEC Arena after England women’s opening win against Trinidad & Tobago in the netball:
“England shook off early jitters to get their Commonwealth Games title defence off to a winning start with a 74-22 victory over Trinidad and Tobago on Friday. A nervous start, marred by several shooting errors, were eventually brushed aside as the Roses found their rhythm in front of an approving home crowd.”
Track cycling: Chris Boardman is on the scene at the velodrome in Stratford, east London. The BBC just ran a good feature about his gold medal in Barcelona in 1992, in the individual pursuit. He says his wife, Sally, spent their savings (£500) on getting out there, slept on someone’s floor, and bought a ticket from a tout outside the stadium so she could witness it. Anyway, coming up soon on the track, it’s the men’s team sprint. (As far as I can see on the official site, anyway.)
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The women’s sprint triathlon silver medallist Georgia Taylor-Brown is asked how the race went: “Really hard. The swim start was very odd, I think me and Flora got a little bit mugged off, we didn’t know what was happening, we kind of looked at each other and were like, “Oh, we’re going.” So yeah, it was a bit of a chaotic start. On the bike, we kind of discussed beforehand that we wanted to try and make something happen and make it exciting, I guess and not just roll around ... she said she was going to go, I went with her, it paid off, we went very hard ... I have it my best shot. The run, I just didn’t have the legs today ... I felt flat all day ... considering how I felt before the race I’m extra-happy with a silver medal.
“I’m a bit bored of coming second to Flora constantly, so we need to change that ... and Alex obviously came away with his gold this morning, so I’m a bit gutted I can’t copy him in that aspect ... but like I said, silver, I can’t complain with that today.”
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The champion, Flora Duffy, speaks to the BBC: “Thank you ... it feels really special. I was definitely feeling the pressure coming into this. No one has ever won twice, so that was definitely sort of weighing on me ... it was so cool being off the front with Georgia. ... the crowd were going nuts, and I was just enjoying the moment and soaking that all up, because it’s been so long since we’ve had such an electric crowd. It was just really special ... I’m super glad that I could put on a great race, it’s always special to race at a major Games.”
Women’s sprint triathlon: On the BBC, Beth Potter reacts to winning Scotland’s first medal of the Commonwealth Games: “I’m buzzing, it’s obviously a biggie this season for me, and I’m just happy to get Scotland a medal. I mean I’ve not really been doing a lot of running, I’ve been riding a lot and it feels like it’s paying off ... I put a lot of work in this winter and I’m glad I’m reaping the rewards now.
“It was a real target to a get a medal this year, and I’m just happy I could do that.”
She is asked where that amazing swim came from: “I don’t know! I’ve been swimming well, but I got to the front, and I was just like: ‘I’m just going to go ... they can follow me.’”
Flora Duffy wins gold in the women's sprint triathlon!
Duffy defends her title in dominant style ... and adds another Commonwealth Games gold to Olympic gold. Emphatic.
Georgia Taylor-Brown wins silver – she runs in waving an England flag and waving to the crowd ... she crosses the line, and immediately gives a big hug to Duffy who is waiting just under the arch which emblazoned with the “Birmingham 2022” branding.
Beth Potter wins bronze for Scotrland and she beams with delight as she crossed the finish line, and she too congratulates Duffy and Taylor-Brown.
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Women’s hockey, Pool B results:
New Zealand 16-0 Kenya
South Africa 2-4 Scotland
In the quiet, woody surrounds of Sutton Park, seven miles north of Birmingham proper, the Commonwealth Games erupted into life as the first medal was seized by one of England’s brightest stars. Alex Yee, the 24 year-old Olympic silver medallist, pulled off a masterful comeback to outrun New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde and mark himself as the Commonwealth champion.
Women’s sprint triathlon: With 2.5km to go, Duffy has a 16-second lead on Taylor-Brown. Duffy’s rhythm is metronomic, she looks completely relaxed and comfortable, and she is bearing down on a gold medal here with a minimum of fuss.
If you missed it – there are some choice shots from the opening ceremony here:
Our 2022 Commonwealth Games medal table can be found here:
Women’s sprint triathlon: Flora Duffy is living up to her status as the Olympic champion. She has powered away from Taylor-Brown in the early stages of the run, and has opening up a gap of maybe 20 seconds.
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Women’s sprint triathlon: The only question is, after this massive effort on the bike, have either Duffy or Taylor-Brown left themselves short for the closing 5km run? The answer is probably no, of course, they will be confident they’ve paced themselves correctly. And here they come for the transition to the running!
Duffy’s transition is faster and she starts her run three of four seconds before her English rival.
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Elsewhere in the wide world of sport, today’s Tour de France Femmes stage is entering its final kilometres. Barry Glendenning has all the latest here:
Women’s sprint triathlon: Going into the fourth and final lap of the cycling, the lead for Duffy and Taylor-Brown is 34secs. That is a commanding advantage. I should mention that the cycling course is packed with cheering fans – it’s a great turn-out, and they are packed in against the metal barriers all the way along.
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Women’s sprint triathlon: It seems like the dual leaders Duffy and Taylor-Brown have gold and silver sewn up here. There are no time gaps on the screen, but they have managed to build what looks like a decisive lead on the chasers.
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Mixed team badminton, group stage: The second session is now under way – below are the results from the first session this morning:
Group B:
England 5 - 0 Barbados
Singapore 5 - 0 Mauritius
Group D:
South Africa 3 - 2 Jamaica
Malaysia 5 - 0 Zambia
Women’s sprint triathlon: On the second lap of the cycling, the Olympic champion Duffy and Taylor-Brown of England have clipped off the front of the escape group together. It looks like they have about 15secs lead.
Women’s sprint triathlon: Potter carried out a smooth transition to the bike, and powered away alone at the front of the field, but has now been joined by four other riders. Legault (Canada), Coldwell and Taylor-Brown (England), Duffy (Bermuda) are the other riders in the front group.
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Men’s boxing: Lewis Richardson of England has defeated Wales’s Harris Khan by unanimous decision to move into the last 16 of the men’s middleweight competition. Richardson won silver at the European Championships in Armenia in May.
RESULT 🥊
— England Boxing (@England_Boxing) July 29, 2022
Lewis Richardson (@England_Boxing) beat Haaris Khan (@BoxingWales) by unanimous decision.#CommonwealthGames2022 #Birmingham2022 pic.twitter.com/plyULCXtk8
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Women’s sprint triathlon: Glasgow-born Beth Potter leads the field in the 750m swim.
Women’s sprint triathlon: A slightly odd start (but not a false start), with a few athletes seemingly unsure if the starter’s gun had fired. There was no gap between ‘On your marks’ and the gun firing, which I think was what led to the confusion. Anyway, despite the fact that a few competitors lost a couple of seconds, the race is under way.
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The women’s sprint triathlon is in the following format: 750m swim, four laps of 5km on the bike around Sutton Coldfield, then two laps of the 2.5km running circuit.
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There are no fewer than 14 sports being played or participated in on this first day of action, so it’s all go. The women’s sprint triathlon is coming up very shortly. There’s plenty of track cycling to come, and loads of swimming coming up this evening, too.
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Thanks Will and hello everyone.
Men’s rugby sevens: Samoa have just handed out a 34-0 hammering to England in Group A.
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And, with that, I’ll hand you over to Luke McLaughlin. There’s still plenty of action – including the women’s triathlon – to come.
Gardner cinches it with a final four! Australia have won by three wickets, a result which looked fairly unlikely after a flurry of cheap dismissals early on.
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Gardner brings up her half century with another boundary. Australia need three runs off nine balls. What a turnaround.
Gardner with another four! It’s 145-7 and Australia are suddenly in the driving seat.
Gardner thrashes a shot through covers for another boundary. Having got themselves into such a good position, India are rocking now.
Gardner follows up by lashing one to the boundary herself. Australia need 21 runs off 18 balls. It’s tense, this!
But wait a minute! Alana King keeps Australia in the hunt with consecutive fours off Singh.
Just as Grace Harris was building up a head of steam in the T20, with 37 off 20 balls, Meghna Singh tempted her with a fullish delivery and Harmanpreet Kaur made the catch. Australia are now 112-7, with Jess Jonassen surrendering her wicket for three runs after being bowled and caught by Deepti Sharma.
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What’s going on in the boxing, then? Well, since you ask, Scotland’s Reese Lynch has overcome Kiribati’s Timon Aaree in the men’s light welterweight round of 32 via referee’s stoppage.
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Over in the aquatic photography... wait a minute, what? This event isn’t on the schedule anywhere!
This photographer understood the assignment.
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 29, 2022
That is what you call commitment 😅#BBCCWG #DoItForTheGram pic.twitter.com/oGwnTmDM5g
England have triumphed in the netball, beating Trinidad & Tobago 74-22. It’s a convincing victory which puts them in a promising position in Pool B.
In the women’s T20, Australia are now 63-5 against India. Ashleigh Gardner and Grace Harris are swimming against the tide, but the latter has just clonked Radha Yadav for six.
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Looking for a full rundown of the medal table? Bookmark this and save yourself a few seconds on a search engine. Life’s too short.
Back in the men’s rugby sevens, there’s another drubbing in progress. Fiji are 33-0 up against Zambia. Canada beat Wales 31-0 in the end, for those keeping count.
Fancy a more in-depth read on Alex Yee winning the first gold medal of the Games? Have at it.
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Meanwhile, the home nations have made a strong start in the squash. Wales’ Emyr Evans has beaten the British Virgin Islands’ Luca Reich 3-0 in the men’s singles round of 64.
Thanks Martin. It’s good to be back! I feel so alive!
Over in the netball, England are now 54-10 up against Trinidad & Tobago with a little under three minutes left in the third quarter and heading for a big win.
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Women’s T20 cricket: Make that 21-3 from 2.5 for Australia. Thakur has taken all three wickets for India.
That is it from me, Martin Belam. I am going to hand you back over to Will Magee for the next couple of hours. I will see you here again on Monday.
Women’s T20 cricket: Australia are having a bit of a nightmare here. They are 21-2 from 2.3 overs. They’ve just survived an LBW decision review as well. Their target is 155 to beat India.
Cycling men’s team spring: England will race Australia for gold after posting a time of 43.296, just over a second slower than the Aussies. The bronze medal race will see New Zealand and Canada tussle.
That final is around 6pm BST this evening. The action has ended in the velodrome for now, and will resume at 4pm where there could be gold for Aileen McGlynn and her pilot Ellie Stone of Scotland in the Women’s Tandem B Sprint. They are up against Australia’s Jessica Gallagher and her pilot Caitlin Ward.
Men’s rugby sevens: I’m not saying that the pool stage of this competition is wildly unbalanced (I am) but the opening round of matches has delivered some heavy tankings. Here are the scores so far:
Australia 82-0 Jamaica
Kenya 27-14 Uganda
New Zealand 63-5 Sri Lanka
England 0-34 Samoa
South Africa 48-0 Malaysia
Scotland 41-0 Tonga
Canada are currently 10-0 up against Wales as they approach the end of the first-half and I’ll have my usual moan-up about it being Wales in green and Canada in red and therefore unnecessarily impossible for colour-blind people to tell the sides apart.
Cycling men’s team sprint: England have false-started, and are regrouping to go again.
Women’s T20 cricket: Australia have got off to (almost) the worst possible start in their innings, losing a wicket on the second ball. The are 0-1 off of two balls.
Cycling men’s team sprint: Australia have just set a cracking time here, only one second off the world record. They are 1.752 seconds ahead of second placed New Zealand and are now guaranteed a race for gold. England need to better New Zealand’s time of 43.974 to be in that final. They go next.
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Cycling men’s team sprint: Canada have just gone into second place, just under a tenth of a second behind New Zealand. India, Australia and England are still to race. The two fastest in qualifying race for gold, the third and fourth teams race for bronze.
Netball: England are really beginning to outclass Trinidad & Tobago now. With five minutes of the second quarter left they have stretched their lead to 29-7.
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Women’s T20 cricket: India have completed the first ever innings at the Commonwealth Games in a women’s T20 competition. Two Australian wickets with the two penultimate balls meant they finished their twenty overs on 154-8. That is a run rate of 7.70 for Australia to better when it is their turn to give it a thwack.
Cycling: That relegation for England’s Sophie Unwin and Georgia Holt was quite agonising on TV, where the cameras lingered on their celebrations as they seemed to be the last people in the velodrome to know what was happening. It was good news for Aileen McGlynn and Ellie Stone of Scotland though, who progress and will have a shot at gold.
Cycling: The men’s team sprint is about to start in the velodrome. Multi-medal winner Jason Kenny is coaching England who go last. There has just been a disappointing moment for the team though, where England’s women’s tandem pairing thought they had won only to be given a penalty for riding outside the sprint line.
By the way, if the sport this morning has whetted your appetite for the Commonwealth Games, there are still some tickets available.
The organisers say “Tickets for Aquatics - Swimming, Cycling - Mountain Biking, Cycling Time Trial, Cycling - Road Race, Gymnastics - Artistic and Triathlon & Para Triathlon are now resale tickets only. Tickets for all other sports are still available.”
You can see what is available here.
Netball: England lead 15-6 at the end of the first quarter against Trinidad & Tobago. England got off to a sluggish and nervous start, but the defending champions have gradually stretched their lead.
Alex Yee has thanked the rest of the England triathlon team, saying their work during the cycling leg set him up for his gold medal. He also paid tribute to silver medallist Hayden Wilde, saying “He’s a great competitor. He’s brought the best out of me every single day.”
“I wanted to enjoy the moment as much as anything,” Yee said, adding “I made sure I was looking around, enjoying it, soaking it up. There’s thousands of people on the course and it was just crazy.”
“Second place is nothing to be disappointed about” said Wilde when he was interviewed.
Netball: The first netball match-up of the games is about to start. Trinidad & Tobago face England in the Pool B opener.
Men’s triathlon: The unofficial result is gold for England’s Alex Yee, silver for Hayden Wilde of New Zealand, and bronze for Matthew Hauser of Australia.
Alex Yee of England wins first gold of the games in men's triathlon.
Men’s triathlon: Hayden Wilde’s penalty is for not putting his cycling helmet away correctly in the box. What a sport. They’ve been going for fifty minutes now. Wilde has yielded and now England’s Alex Yee is getting an incredible reception as he crosses the line first for the first gold medal of Birmingham 2022!
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Men’s triathlon: England’s Alex Yee is now up to the shoulder of New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde, but Wilde has been given a ten second penalty! It is going to surely be gold for Yee now?
Women’s hockey: New Zealand are the defending champions from the last games, and they’ve got off to a perfect start with a 16-0 victory over Kenya in the opening Pool B match.
Men’s triathlon: New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde leads England’s Alex Yee by seven seconds going into the second and final lap of the running leg. Hauser of Australia is twenty seconds back from Wilde and in bronze medal position.
Men’s rugby sevens: Samoa have raced off to a lead against England. It is 24-0 at half-time.
Men’s triathlon: The men are into the run now, New Zealand’s Wilde leads from South Africa’s Riddle. Alex Yee is thirteen seconds off the pace, which is doable, but will be difficult.
Women’s T20 cricket: India have just had a bizarre escape when Australia’s wicketkeeper Healey should have stumped Yastika, but took the stumps out with the wrong hand, before then throwing the ball at the stumps instead. After a review it is not out. India were 68-1 at the start of the ninth over, but there was a run out on the very next ball, so it 68-2 from 9.1.
Men’s rugby sevens: The opening Pool A match has finished as a crushing 63-5 victory for New Zealand over Sri Lanka. England face Samoa in the next match.
Women’s T20 cricket: Australia have just missed what should have been a relatively simple catch, and India are now 51-1 at the start of the eighth over in the opening contest.
Now I must confess that I was looking forward to live blogging some of the Commonwealth Games as a refreshing change of tone from my usual daily gig of war and politics, but at the moment I am trying to simultaneously watch cycling, triathlon, rugby sevens and cricket and it is quite … a lot. You cannot complain that there isn’t enough sport happening on this opening morning, that is for sure.
Men’s triathlon: They are 10km into the 20km ride, and now the leading three of Wilde, Riddle and Reid are about twenty seconds ahead of the pack.
Men’s rugby sevens: There are points on the board for Sri Lanka which is greeted with a huge cheer. Just seconds before the break they put together a lovely move on the left. It looked like the chance had gone but then a fortuitous bounce went in their favour, so at half-time the score is New Zealand 28 Sri Lanka 5. New Zealand once beat them 80-0 at a Commonwealth Games, so you can see why the Sri Lanka team were inclined to celebrate the points wildly.
Reid (NZ), Riddle (RSA) and Wilde (NZ) have formed a trio breakaway ahead of the pack in the cycling leg, and you would imagine they ought to be able to work together and pull away, which would put the three of them in a very strong position going into the run. But there is still a long way to cycle yet. The streets are lined for the event, it looks like a decent crowd.
The leading bunch at the men’s triathlon sprint are coming out of the water and into the transition onto the bikes, and out in front are Reid (NZ), Riddle (RSA), Wilde (NZ) and Dixon (Eng). Wilde and Riddle get out first and second onto the bikes.
Hi everybody, Martin Belam here, I’m a big fan of triathlon, and indeed all the endurance events that I can safely watch rather than take part in. The men are in the water for the swimming leg.
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The men’s triathlon has begun, with the big swim up first. I’ll hand you over to the indomitable Martin Belam for this one.
The men’s triathlon begins at 11am. Will Alex Yee overcome the challenge of Hayden Wilde? We’re about to find out.
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And, last but not least, here come Wales. They make a fast start, but drop off by increments and end up with a time of 4:20.398. That means that New Zealand and Australia will do battle for the gold medal later on.
Canada are the fourth team out on the track. They post the slowest time so far at 4:24.701.
Australia are next up. They go hard and end up with a time of 4:14.605, setting a new Commonwealth Games record and putting England out of gold medal contention in the process.
England finish with a time of 4:19.841, over a second behind New Zealand. The fastest two teams compete for gold later today, so Kenny, Josie Knight, Maddie Leech and Sophie Lewis are now in a precarious position.
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Over in the track cycling, New Zealand have set an opening time of 4:18.434 in women’s 4000m team pursuit qualifying. England are up next, with Laura Kenny leading the charge.
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Scotland’s Katie Shanahan is in action in the women’s 400m individual medley heats soon. She’s spoken about her excitement at taking part in the Games and experiencing “a noisy home crowd”.
With just over an hour until action begins at Sandwell, hear from some Team Scotland swimmers who are competing today! 🏴 pic.twitter.com/MdnUTUDRof
— Scottish Swimming (@ScottishSwim) July 29, 2022
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Grace Crompton runs in a try in the corner and, with that, England wrap up a 57-0 win. Sri Lanka will be glad that’s over.
A fine start to Pool A for the Team England women 👏#B2022 pic.twitter.com/tZ8X5IPpe1
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) July 29, 2022
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Maude gets her second. Another try follows straight from the kick off. 52-0. This is a free-for-all.
Alicia Maude gets her name on the scoresheet and it’s 38-0. Sri Lanka can only really limit the damage now.
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Boatman scores her fourth try. That brings the first half to a close, with England 33-0 up.
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Amy Wilson Hardy adds another. It’s nice of Boatman to give someone else a turn. England are now 28-0 up and, to be honest, a Sri Lanka comeback seems quite unlikely.
No, sorry, make that 21-0. Boatman has her third, running in a no-nonsense try under the posts.
Make that 14-0. Boatman has another try to her name after a neat jink out wide sends her away with deceptive ease.
Ellie Boatman has opened the scoring for England’s women’s sevens side against Sri Lanka. The Red Rose look pretty formidable here, even if it is only 7-0.
It’s all go in the women’s rugby sevens. Fiji have started their Commonwealth Games with an emphatic 33-12 win against Scotland.
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The lawn bowls and para lawn bowls are well under way. In case you didn’t know, lawn bowls has been a Commonwealth Games sport since the inaugural event in 1930. It has featured at every Games bar 1966, when it was dropped owing to the lack of available bowling greens in Kingston, Jamaica.
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Missed the opening ceremony last night? Don’t worry, much of the visual spectacle has been captured in the form of photography, a newish technological advance which allows us to create lasting images by recording light.
Preamble
After a suitably bombastic opening ceremony – including giant metal bulls, flyovers by the Red Arrows and Duran Duran, obviously – the Commonwealth Games begin in earnest today.
We kick off (roll off? get rolling?) with lawn bowls and para lawn bowls this morning, with badminton, hockey, rugby sevens and artistic gymnastics to follow from 9am onwards.
The schedule for day one also includes table tennis and para table tennis, cycling, swimming, T20 cricket, triathlon, boxing, squash, netball, 3x3 basketball and 3x3 wheelchair basketball, so it’s fair to say there should be something for everyone.
The individual triathlon is probably the most-anticipated event of the day, with Team England’s Alex Yee, a silver medalist in the same event at Tokyo 2020, among those competing in the men’s final. His main rival is New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde, with both expected to end up on the podium.
In the women’s final, Georgia Taylor-Brown will also go in search of a podium finish. She will be up against Bermuda’s Flora Duffy, who pipped her to a gold medal in Tokyo.
How will the medal table look by the end of the day? No idea, honestly. Whatever happens, let’s hope that, in the words of Nadine Dorries, the Games “puts Birmingham on the map”. It was famously impossible to locate the United Kingdom’s second-largest city before today.
