After six memorable days, the swimming competition at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games has come to an end and our 9 Victorian swimmers claimed an impressive 9 medals. It was a successful campaign from the Australian Dolphins Swim Team collecting 73 medals, including a record breaking 28 Gold medals, at the Optus Aquatic Centre.
Mack Horton (Melbourne Vicentre) kicked us off with Australia’s first Gold medal in the Men’s 400m Freestyle, finishing ahead of Australian team mate Jack McLoughlin in a time of 3:43.76. Horton, who is coached by Craig Jackson, won another Gold in the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay and Silver in the Men’s 200m Freestyle (1:45.89). His medal haul continued on the final night of competition with a Bronze medal in the Men’s 1500m Freestyle (14:51.05).
Golden boy of Australian para swimming, Timothy Disken (PLC Aquatic) made it a perfect Commonwealth Games debut going two from two in his events. Disken, who is coached by Yuriy Vdovychenko at the National Training Centre, won Gold medals in the Men’s S9 100m Freestyle (56.07) and the SB8 100m Breaststroke (1:12.42).
Joshua Beaver swam out of his skin in the Men’s 200m Backstroke, to claim Bronze (1:57.04) and make it a clean sweep for the Aussies, finishing behind Mitch Larkin and Bradley Woodward. Rio Olympian Beaver is coached by Olympic Silver medallist, Ash Delaney at Northcote Swimming Club.
In the Women’s S9 100m Backstroke, it was a close battle between Melbourne Vicentre’s Ashleigh McConnell (coached by Kenrick Monk) and Nunawading’s Madeleine Scott (coached by Scott Talbot) for the Bronze, with McConnell coming out on top in a time of 1:15.93. Scott went on to win Bronze in the Women’s SB9 100m Breaststroke, touching the wall at 1:19.98.
In other para events, Traralgon’s Emily Beecroft (coached by Dean Gooch) just missed out on a medal, finishing 4th in the Women’s S9 100m Freestyle (1:03.76) and CA Triton’s Matthew Haanappel (coached by Matt Belgiovane) finished 6th in the Men’s S7 50m Freestyle (30.75).
Nunawading’s Jessica Hansen (coached by Scott Talbot) did us proud in the Women’s 50m Breaststroke, finishing 5th with a time of 30.83. She also placed 8th in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke (1:08.53).
Hayley Baker (Canberra ASC – formerly Melbourne Vicentre) had strong swims in the Women’s 100m and 200m Backstroke events. She placed 6th in each of the Finals, clocking times on 1:00.74 and 2:11.28 respectively. Baker is now coached by Tracey Menzies at the National Training Centre.
A special mention also to Lushavel Stickland (Melbourne University Propulsion) who represented Samoa in the Women’s 50m Freestyle, 100m Freestyle, 50m Backstroke and 100m Backstroke. She made the Semi Final of the 50m Freestyle, setting a new Samoan national record time of 26.84.
Swimming Victoria would like to congratulate all our athletes, coaches, technical officials and volunteers on their efforts on the Gold Coast. Just to make it there is a massive achievement and we couldn’t be prouder!
For full results of the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games click here.
