Emma McKeon has won her record-breaking 11th Commonwealth Games gold medal in the women's 50m freestyle.
She now has the most gold medals out of any Commonwealth Games athlete, overtaking long-time legends of the sport including Leisel Jones and Ian Thorpe.
It was a clean sweep for Australia in the event, with Meg Harris winning silver and Shayna Jack defying a serious hand injury she sustained at June's world championships to claim bronze.
It was one of many highlights from the pool on the third day of competition in Birmingham.
Madison Wilson, Kiah Melverton, Mollie O'Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus also won gold in the women's 4x200m freestyle final — demolishing the world record in the process and beating second-placed Canada by more than 12 seconds.
"The 4x2 means so much to us in Australia," Melverton told Channel Seven after the race.
"It's just nice to finally get that world record back in Australia's hands."
Australia also won the 4x100m freestyle relay a day earlier, courtesy of Wilson, O'Callaghan, Shayna Jack and — surprise surprise — Emma McKeon.
Kaylee McKeown also added to Australia's swimming goldrush with a win in the 100m backstroke final, narrowly defeating defending Canadian champion Kylie Masse in a highly-anticipated showdown.
Jenna Strauch earned silver in the 200m breaststroke final, Zac Stubblety-Cook nabbed silver and Sam Williamson got bronze in the 100m breaststroke, and Tim Hodge and Blake Cochrane won silver and bronze respectively in the men's S8 100m breaststroke.
Australia sits comfortably on top of the overall Birmingham 2022 medal tally at the end of day three with 52 in total — 22 gold, 13 silver and 17 bronze.
Gymnast Georgia Godwin, the women's rugby sevens team and cyclists Georgia Baker, Jess Gallagher and Matthew Richardson are also among the Aussies who scored gold on day three.
Look back on the action as it unfolded with our live blog.
Key events
- 🥉 Cycling: Bronze for Beau Wootton in tandem B sprint
- 🥇 Swimming: Gold and a new world record in the women's 4x200m free relay
- 🥇 Rugby Sevens: Australia's women win gold, beating Fiji
- 🥈 Swimming: Silver and bronze for Stubblety-Cook and Williamson in 100m breaststroke
- 🥇 Swimming: Gold for Kaylee Mckeown in the 100m backstroke
- 🥈 Swimming: Silver for Jenna Strauch in 200m breaststroke
- 🥇 Swimming: CLEAN SWEEP AND GOLD MEDAL RECORD BROKEN!
- 🥇 Cycling: Gold for Matthew Richardson in men's sprint and Kristina Clonan in women's 500m time trial
- 🥈 Swimming: Silver and bronze in SB8 100m breaststroke
- 🥇 Cycling: Gold for Jess Gallagher and pilot Caitlin Mead in tandem B 1000m time trial
- 🥇 Cycling: Gold for Georgia Baker in the women's 25km points race
- 🥈 Triathlon: Silver AND bronze in the men's PTVI
- Cycling: Australia's Matt Glaetzer relegated from bronze medal in the men's sprint
- 🥉 Triathlon: Bronze for Austraila's mixed relay team
- 🥇 Gymnastics: Gold for Georgia Godwin in the women's all-around finals
Live updates
By Kelsie Iorio
What to watch on day four
PHEW. What a morning this has been.
Get that afternoon nap in and set your alarms because we are in for another big one on day four in Birmingham, which kicks off this evening for those watching from Australia.
Here's what you can catch the green and gold in (reminder — any times listed below are in AEST):
- Swimming (if you scroll down a few posts, there's a list of the medal events on tomorrow morning)
- Boxing
- Judo (brothers Josh and Nathan Katz are both up in their divisions — it all kicks off around 7pm tonight)
- Track cycling
- Netball (Australia plays South Africa from 9pm tonight)
- Weightlifting
- Gymnastics (the men's and women's apparatus finals begin — keep an eye out for our all-around gold medallist Georgia Godwin on vault and uneven bars from 11pm tonight)
- Lawn bowls
-
Hockey (the Kookaburras face New Zealand from 2am Tuesday)
That's all from us here on the blog for now. Thanks for joining us, see you tomorrow!
By Kelsie Iorio
3x3 basketball: Semi-finals to come for wheelchair and women's teams
Australia's men's wheelchair 3x3 basketball team has gone down 9-11 to Northern Ireland this morning, but will still play in the semi-final against England early tomorrow morning (our time).
The women's wheelchair team absolutely smashed South Africa 21-3 and is also up against England in their semi.
The 3x3 women's team also made it through to the semi-final but their opponent hasn't yet been decided, and the 3x3 men's team will play Kenya in the quarter-final from around 2am tomorrow morning.
By Kelsie Iorio
🥉 Cycling: Bronze for Beau Wootton in tandem B sprint
So many medals this morning!
I think this one might have got caught up in the rush earlier — but Beau Wootton and pilot Luke Zaccaria beat Wales to secure the bronze medal in the men's tandem B sprint final overnight.
Beau and Luke came in a really close fourth in the tandem B 1000m time trial earlier in the competition so great to see them reach the podium.
The gold medal went to another Welsh rider and Scotland won the silver.
By Kelsie Iorio
Medal tally: Putting the gold in green and gold
By Kelsie Iorio
Hockey: Wins all round for Australia
If you're still catching up from overnight, both our men's and women's hockey teams have notched up victories in their latest pool matches.
The Kookaburras demolished Scotland 12-0 last night, and the Hockeyroos got the win over South Africa 5-0.
The men's side are gunning for their seventh straight Comm Games gold (and if they keep this up, they'll probably get there too).
From here, the Kookaburras will play New Zealand early tomorrow morning (I believe that match starts around 6am AEST) and the Hockeyroos will also play NZ tomorrow evening our time. Both of those matches will be good to watch!
By Kelsie Iorio
Gymnastics: Moore forced to retire from all-around final, Stephens finishes 11th
The men's artistic gymnastics all-around final was also on overnight, with Clay Mason Stephens finishing in 11th place.
There was heartbreak for teenager Jesse Moore though — he posted a short statement on Instagram confirming that an ongoing shoulder injury ended his all-around medal hopes, but he plans to still compete in the individual apparatus finals for pommel and high bar.
We've also got Clay Mason Stephens in the men's floor final, James Bacueti on vault, Tyson Bull and Mitchell Morgans on parallel bars and Mitchell Morgans on horizontal bar — Moore has also qualified for the rings final but it's not clear at this stage whether that injury will be too much for that apparatus.
By Kelsie Iorio
Swimming: We ain't done yet
Well, we're done for this morning. But there are more medals up for grabs and you know we've got a darn good chance of adding to the tally when it comes to the pool.
We have a stack of heats again tonight before more medal events first thing tomorrow morning, including:
- Kyle Chalmers, William Xu Yang and Zac Incerti in the men's 100m freestyle
- Matthew Levy and Joel Mundie in the men's S7 50m freestyle
- Izzy Vincent and Ella Jones in the women's 100m SB6 breaststroke
- Ben Armbruster and Bradley Woodward in the men's 50m backstroke
- Alex Perkins, Holly Barratt and Emma McKeon (yes, she's up for another medal) in the women's 50m butterfly
- Probably Kaylee McKeown and Minna Atherton in the women's 200m backstroke — that's the first heat tomorrow morning though so the final competitors aren't confirmed
- Same with the women's 200m IM — Ella Ramsay, Abbey Harkin and Kaylee McKeown will contest the heats to try and secure a spot in that final
- And the men's 4x200m freestyle relay — I don't have a start list for this one yet either, but whoever it is will have a tough act to follow after the women won gold AND broke the world record earlier this morning
By Kelsie Iorio
Lawn bowls: Almost all Aussies come away with wins overnght
The Aussie men's triples lawn bowls team has won their quarter-final against Malaysia 24-14.
Barry Lester, Carl Healey and Ben Twist will play Fiji in the semi-finals this afternoon from around 5:30pm AEST.
Ellen Ryan (pictured here) has also had a win in the women's singles quarter-final over Scotland's Dee Hoggan — she'll face Shae Wilson of Norfolk Island later tonight (our time) in the semi.
The para-mixed pairs showed New Zealand up 25-9 and the para-men's pairs got a 15-11 win over Wales in their pool match, but the para-women's pairs went down 5-22 to England.
However, earlier wins for the para-women's team of Cheryl Lindfield and Serena Bonnell means that they still qualify for the semi-final — that's also on this afternoon (our time) against South Africa.
By Kelsie Iorio
Swimming: Good luck wiping the smiles off these faces
Golden...!
- Natty
By Kelsie Iorio
Boxing: Tough night for Australia in the ring
Callum Peters, Billy Polkinghorn and Kristy Lee Harris' Birmingham journeys have all come to an end overnight after some tough losses on points.
Australia does still have some medal chances though:
- Charlie Senior faces Canada's Keoma-Ali Al-Ahmadieh in the featherweight round of 16
- Billy McAllister will go up against Jerone Ennis of Jamaica in the light heavyweight round of 16
- Taha Ahmad will fight Mauritian Murven Clair in the light middleweight round of 16
- Kaye Frances Scott will face Zainab Keita of Sierra Leone in the light middleweight round of 16
- Caitlin Anne Parker will fight Kenyan Elizabeth Adhiambo Andiego and Callum Peters faces Desmond Cort Amsterdam of Guyana in the middleweight quarter-finals
- Edgardo Coumi goes up against Anguilla's Japheth Olton in the heavyweight quarter-final
- Alex Winwood is through to the flyweight quarter-final but his opponent hasn't been decided — same with Tina Rahimi
Rugby Sevens: South Africa wins men's gold medal, beating Fiji in final
There was disappointment again for Fiji in the men's rugby sevens, as they went down to South Africa in the gold medals game.
After the women's team lost to Australia in the gold medal game, the men's team were well beaten by South Africa, who clinched victory by 31-7.
The Blitzboks all but put the game to bed with three first-half tries, and although Fiji got on the board late in the game, their chances had flown.
The South Africans completed the scoring with another try at the end.
By Kelsie Iorio
🥇 Swimming: Gold and a new world record in the women's 4x200m free relay
It's another gold in our final swimming medal event for day three — and a new world record to boot!
The dream team of Madi Wilson, Kiah Melverton, Mollie O'Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus have demolished the women's 4x200m freestyle relay final in just 7:39.29.
We're hearing via the commentary that it's the first able-bodied world record broken in the pool at these Commonwealth Games.
The Aussies were dominant through the majority of the race and came home first with a buffer of more than 12 seconds over second-placed Canada.
By Kelsie Iorio
Weightlifting: Aussies place fifth in women's 59kg and men's 73kg finals
A quick catch-up from the weightlifting — Aussies Brenna Kean and Brandon Dean Wakeling have both finished up fifth in their respective finals competitions.
Wakeling's best was a 127kg snatch and a 163kg clean and jerk (gold medallist Achinta Sheuli of India set a new Commonwealth Games record with 143kg and 170kg).
Kean's best snatch was 83kg with a 106kg best clean and jerk (another Games record set in this division as well — 90kg and 116kg from Nigeria's Rafiatu Folashade Lawal).
We've got some more weightlifters coming up tonight — Kyle Bruce in the men's 81kg, Sarah Maureen Cochrane in the women's 64kg and Kiana Rose Elliott in the women's 71kg finals. The first of those begins around 6:30pm AEST.
🥇 Rugby Sevens: Australia's women win gold, beating Fiji
And it's gold for Australia's women in the rugby sevens!!!
That brilliant start with a 17-0 lead at half-time set up the win, and the Australians went on with the job in the second half, clinching victory 22-12.
Maddison Levi went over in the corner for Australia's fourth try, to make it 22-0. Ana Maria Namasi scored for Fiji with four minutes left, but the task was too great.
Charlotte Caslick finished the game in the sin-bin after a late yellow card, and Fiji scored with the final move of the tournament - but it wasn't enough.
The Australian team now add the Commonwealth Games gold to their Olympic gold in Rio and their three rugby sevens world series crowns. Brilliant work by the Aussies, congratulations to the whole team and to coach Tim Walsh.
By Kelsie Iorio
🥈 Swimming: Silver and bronze for Stubblety-Cook and Williamson in 100m breaststroke
Well, this was an interesting one!
Zac Stubblety-Cook has won silver and Sam Williamson has won bronze for Australia in the men's 100m breaststroke final.
The gold went to England's James Wilby, and fellow Englishman Adam Peaty came in fourth — Peaty won gold in this event at the last two Commonwealth Games and holds the world and Games record for it, so a lot of people were expecting to see him touch first.
Stubblety-Cook already won gold in the 200m breaststroke and missed the gold here by about half a second, so yet another super close finish.
Joshua Yong, our third Australian competitor, came in seventh.
Rugby Sevens: Australia's women make fast start in gold medal match against Fiji
It's a great start for the Aussie women against Fiji in the gold medal game!
Faith Nathan opened the scoring with a try after 100 seconds of play - to make it 5-0.
Adi van Buleki missed a penalty for Fiji, and the Australians made them pay minutes later where Nathan went in for her second try of the game.
The Australians were on fire, and Nathan helped set up the third try near half-time for Madison Ashby, who touched down near the posts. The conversion was good to make it 17-0 at the break.
What a start! The Australians are well on track to win the gold medal.
Rugby Sevens: Australia's men's team loses bronze medal game to New Zealand
The Australian men's rugby sevens team has come up short in their bronze medal match against New Zealand.
The New Zealanders scored four tries to two, leading 14-7 at half-time before clinching the medal with a 26-12 win.
Now under way is the gold medal game in the women's between Australia and Fiji.
By Kelsie Iorio
🥇 Swimming: Gold for Kaylee Mckeown in the 100m backstroke
Another one!
It was close, but it's a Commonwealth Games record and a gold medal for Kaylee McKeown in the women's 100m backstroke final!
She narrowly beat defending champion Kylie Masse of Canada, with Wales' Medi Harris taking the bronze.
Aussie Minna Atherton swam fourth — so close to a medal for her as well.
By Kelsie Iorio
Gymnastics: What a morning we've had
I haven't given Georgia Godwin the love she deserves because it's been so busy but what an absolutely incredible achievement from her this morning.
She finished with a total of 53.550, with high scores particularly on beam and uneven bars locking in the gold for her.
Our other all-around finalist Emily Whitehead finished 12th.
