England has been stripped of the gold medal in the 4x400m relay in high drama on Monday morning (AEST).
It appeared England had pulled off one of the headline moments of the entire Games when Jessie Knight held off Canada’s fast-finishing Kyra Constantine down the final straight to cross the line just 0.01 seconds ahead.
Fans inside Alexander Stadium went berserk when the replays showed Knight had just done enough for a famous victory. Or so they thought.
As the final event on the final day of athletics for the entire Games, it is enough to leave a sour taste in the mouths of the English fans — and many of them had already left the stadium before the disqualification was announced.
The England team wasn’t even told the news until after they had completed a victory lap.
However, there can be no doubting that the officials got the call right. It was announced that England had committed an infringement at the end of the first leg during the first baton change.
Replays showed English runner Jodie Williams had drifted to the inside lane (Lane 2) as she positioned herself to receive the baton and take off from that position.
England launched an immediate appeal, but 20 minutes later it was announced that the appeal had been tossed out.
As a result of the disqualification Canada took gold, Jamaica silver and Scotland was promoted to the bronze medal.
It finished off an incredible night at the track, which included Peter Bol’s silver medal win in the men’s 800m.
Scotland’s Laura Muir ended her Commonwealth Games campaign with a flourish by winning gold in the 1500m.
The 29-year-old’s teammate, 10,000m champion Eilish McColgan, just failed to make it a memorable double, finishing second behind Kenya’s impressive world silver medalist Beatrice Chebet in the 5,000m.
Muir, who won bronze in the 800m on Sunday (AEST), kicked for glory before the bell and ran a fairly moderate field — lacking two-time Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon — ragged, timing 4min 02.75sec.
The Olympic silver medallist was overjoyed, having failed to medal in 2014 and missing the 2018 Games due to veterinary exams.
“You learn from it and your time will come,” said Muir, who will bid for more gold medals in the upcoming European Championships.
“It sounds cheesy but it’s true. Eight years of Commonwealths and it’s been bugging me so this means a lot.”
India have also had an excellent athletics competition — Eldhose Paul won their first-ever men’s triple jump gold earlier on Sunday — but bitter rivals Pakistan also had a taste of glory.
Arshad Nadeem, wearing strapping around his right arm, gave the Asian nation their first javelin gold with a Games record mark of 90.18 meters.
Nigeria’s Ese Brume won the women’s long jump competition, leaping 7.00m. Despite the fierce competition, though there was still room for sentiment between rivals.
Recently crowned world champion Kelsey-Lee Barber earlier won the women’s javelin with a throw of 64.43m while Canada’s Evan Dunfee won the men’s 10,000 race walk.
Trinidad and Tobago won the men’s 4x400m relay.
– with AFP
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