It's Game On In Birmingham
The Commonwealth Games started off with a bang for our F-Teamers and the wins kept coming. Across the six days of days of action in Birmingham we saw new records set, PBs fall and our swimmers toping the podium with a haul of medals. Here's a recap of the amazing results!
It seems nothing was going to get in the way of New Zealander Lewis Clareburt's run up to World Champs and Comm Games, not even a bad spell of Covid. Lewis is fighting fit and absolutely on fire in Birmingham. He kicked things off with a massive swim in the 400m IM final, wiping 2 seconds off his PB and setting new Comm Games, Commonwealth, Oceania and New Zealand records with his time of 4:08.70. Friend, rival and fellow F-Teamer Brendon Smith also swam under the Commonwealth Games record time, securing himself a silver medal with a 4:10.15. These times would have seen Lewis and Brendon go 1-2 in Tokyo.
Backing up his gold medal 400m IM swim, Lewis swam down South Africa's Chad Le Clos and England's James Guy in the final leg of the 200m Butterfly final to win gold with a time of 1:55.60. Lewis knocked over a second off his PB and swam the fastest closing split to ensure a win. On the final night of competition Lewis was back in action with the much anticipated 200m IM. He held a second place position for much of the race but was overtaken by England's Tom Dean on the last leg. He won bronze with a time of 1:57.59, only a touch behind his own NZ record that he set in Tokyo. What an amazing Games for Lewis, ending up with two golds and a bronze medal after a big summer of racing.
It was well worth the wait for F-Teamer Jacob Templeton who won his first major international medal with a bronze medal swim in the 50m Freestyle S13 event. Jacob missed out on a spot on the team for Tokyo despite having a qualifying time but it's great to see his hard work and determination pay off with a third place finish in Birmingham.
He's already one of the Australian Para Swim team's most decorated athletes but F-Teamer Blake Cochrane added another Commonwealth Games medal to his collection last night with his bronze medal swim in the 100m Breaststroke SB8 final.
Our international team of backstrokers smashed it out in the final of the 50m event with a blanket finish! Scott Gibson (Scotland) finished in 6th with a 25.34, Ben Armbruster (Australia) was right behind in 25.37 and Joe Small (Wales) finished in 8th with a time of 25.44.
English young gun Jacob Whittle mixed it with the world's best in the final of the 100m Freestyle, finishing in 6th place with a time of 48.61, shy of his PB of 48.11 that he set in Tokyo.
Such an amazing effort from our F-Teamers. Be sure to jump on their socials to congratulate them!