Australia has had a double-medal finish in the men’s decathlon for the first time in a century in an extraordinary end to the event on Saturday morning (AEST).
Daniel Golubovic and Cedric Dubler fell agonizingly short as they desperately tried to steal the gold medal from Grenada’s Victor Lindon in the final 1500m run.
Dubler, a national hero from his viral act of mateship during at the Tokyo Olympics, went into the final night session with a lead of 39 points with only the javelin and 1500m to go.
However, he was brought undone by a fifth place finish in the javelin and simply had too many points to try and catch up in the 1500m.
Golubovic put together a colossal effort in the final event, crossing the finish line first to take the silver medal with a final score of 8197 points.
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Daniel Golubovic congratulates an exhausted Lindon Victor at the finish line. Photo by Ben Stansall / AFP.Source: AFPCedric Dubler and Daniel Golubović.Source: AFP
Lindon was more than 100m behind Golubovic as the Aussie crossed the line.
With the Grenadian looking dead on his feet with 25m to run, it suddenly appeared that Golubovic was about to take the gold. He needed to win by more than 23 seconds.
However, Lindon fell over the line with two seconds to spare. Dubler, who took the bronze medal, Golubovic and Lindon were all left waiting to see the exact results show up on the big screen before they could learn who had won the gold medal.
It eventually showed up on the screen that Lindon had done enough to fall over the line with a final score of 8233. Dubler finished with 8030.
Golubovic was smiling through the heartbreak at the end of the race.
Lindon Victor and Kurt Felix of Team Grenada, Harry Kendall of Team England, Alec Diamond, Daniel Golubovic and Cedric Dubler of Team Australia and Karo Iga of Team Papua New Guinea celebrate at the end of their ten events. Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images.Source: Getty Images
“Thank you, I had to dig for that,” Golubovic said afterwards.
“It is cold out here and there is nothing in the works. Two decathlons in 12 days – I don’t recommend it.
“It’s been an incredible experience, coming down and moving back to Australia and back to Brisbane during COVID, it’s been a wild few years and it’s been a long process to get here. It feels so good to be on this stage right now.
He said he is looking forward to getting some sleep after completing two decathlon events in the space of two weeks, after also competing at the world championships in Oregon last month.
“Tired. Very tired,” he said when asked how he felt in an interview with Channel 7.
“It was a tough race, I knew it was going to be, I had to leave everything out on the line and we did just that, that was every possible thing I could leave out on the track, and it landed where it did, but I am so incredibly proud to have performed the way I did and backed it up two times in a row and to have it come down to the 1500 was a lot of fun.”
Australian Daniel Golubovic has come within three seconds of winning a gold medal in the decathlon at the Commonwealth Games.
Golubovic finished with silver, and countryman Cedric Dubler nabbed bronze, after a sensational 1,500m race wrapped up the 10-event competition.
Coming into the final event sitting in third place behind Dubler and defending champion Lindon Victor, Golubovic needed to win the 1,500m by a whopping 23 seconds to claim gold.
The 28-year-old gave himself every chance, setting a furious pace for three and three-quarter lapses, but fell agonizingly short, establishing a 20.62-second gap.
Just 12 days after competing in the World Championship in Eugene, all the decathletes looked absolutely spent during the final lap, with Dubler and Victor in particular both tiring badly in the final stages.
However, both just held on to win gold and bronze respectively.
Australia secured two medals in the decathlon.(Getty Images: Michael Steele)
“I had a dig for that gold,” Golubovic, who finished 14th in last month’s World Championships, told Channel 7 after the race.
“But it’s cold out here [and] there was just nothing in the legs.
“Two decaths in 12 days total, 10 days rest, I don’t recommend it.”
The thrilling finale provided a fitting conclusion to what was a superb contest over two days at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham.
Victor, who came fifth to Dubler’s eighth in Eugene, led at the halfway stage from Dubler.
The pair alternated the lead throughout the second day, with the Aussie’s superior sprint hurling and pole vault countered by the Grenadian’s discus and javelin prowess.
Cedric Dubler won bronze in the decathlon in 2018.(AP: Alastair Grant)
Golubovic was always there or thereabouts though, steadily improving his position from fifth at the end of day one before leaping into medal contention on day two.
“I think it just comes down to consistency,” Golubovic said, before paying tribute to the Australian backroom team.
“It’s been a wild few years and it’s a long, long process to get here but, oh man, it feels so good to be on this stage right now.”
Fellow Aussie Alec Diamond finished in fifth spot overall.
Australia’s Olympic bronze medalist, Ash Moloney, missed the Games through illness.
LIVE — Australians will compete for gold medals in at least seven events on day eight of the Commonwealth Games as the nation aims to hold off hosts England in Birmingham.
Australia heads into Friday’s competition sitting on top of the medal tally with 51 golds — nine more than England — as well as 42 silver and 39 bronze.
And it could be plenty more by the close of the day with at least three medals on offer in athletics, two in diving, and one each in lawn bowls and artistic gymnastics.
Follow all the action in Birmingham in our live blog below!
FULL MEDAL TALLY LIVE >
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Australians are also in the hunt for wrestling medals in the women’s 57kg (Irene Symeonidis), men’s 65kg (Mustafa Rezaeifar), and men’s 86kg (Jayden Lawrence), starting with the quarterfinals stages from 7.30pm.
Meanwhile, Australia’s Cedric Dubler headed into the final day of the decathlon sitting in second.
Dubler then won the first decathlon event for the night, the 110m hurdles, with a time of 14.20 — good enough for another 949 points. That has moved him one point into the lead over Lindon Victor.
Also in athletics, Jess Hull will compete in the 1500m heats, while Brooke Buschkuehl will be in action in qualifying for long jump.
Celeste Mucci ran a strong 100m hurdles heat, matching her personal best time of 12.96, which saw her finish third.
Comeback star Michelle Jenneke was up next and comfortably finished second with a time of 12.63 to go through to the end on Sunday night. The time is the fastest she’s ever run the event, although it does not count as an official PB due to big tailwinds.
In the 1500m women’s heats, Abbey Caldwell and Linden Hall have progressed to the final after finishing inside the top four of their race with times of 4:13.59 and 4:14.08 respectively.
Away from the track, Australia’s Hockeyroos will have the chance to win a guaranteed medal when they take on India in the semi-final.
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You can track the live medal tally for every country here, with key Aussie wins and updates as they happen.
AUSSIES GOING FOR MEDALS ON DAY 8 (all times AEST)
Lawn Bowls
9pm — For mixed pairs B2/B3 finals
diving
8.18pm — men’s synchronized 3m springboard final
3.05am — women’s 1m springboard final (qualifying at 7.05pm)
4.23am — men’s synchronized 10m platform final
Gymnastics – rhythmic
10.30pm — Individual all-around final
Athletics
4.55am — men’s T53/54 1500m final
6.42am—women’s 3000m steeplechase final
7.15pm – 6.27am — men’s decathlon
Hockey
5am — women’s semi-final vs. India
OTHER KEY EVENTS (times AEST)
Athletics
Women’s long jump qualifying — Brooke Buschkuel — 8.40pm
Men’s decathlon — Cedric Dubler, Daniel Golubovic, Alex Diamond — 7.15pm
Round of 16 – Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles – Kaitlyn Ea/Angela Yu (AUS) v Yujia Jin/Jia Ying Crystal Wong (SGP), Hsuan-Yu Wendy Chen/Gronya Somerville (AUS) v Elena Johnson /Chloe Le Tissier (GGY)
TABLE TENNIS (from 6.30pm)
Mixed Doubles Round 3 and Quarterfinals; Men’s Class Semi Finals; Women’s Class Semi Finals; Women’s Singles Round 2; Men’s Doubles Round 3 and Quarterfinals; Women’s Doubles Round 2 – Chunyi Feng/ Yangzi Liu (AUS) v Shanecia Delpesche/Jessica MC Carter (SVG), Minhyung Jee/Jian Fang Lay (AUS) v TBA; Men’s Singles – Dillon Chambers (AUS) v Zhe Yu Clarence Chew (SGP), Finn Luu (AUS) v Sharath Kamal Achanta (IND), Nicholas Lum (AUS) v Javen Choong (MAS)
