It was another successful for Team England on Day 6 at the Gold Coast, with 11 medals added to the nation’s medal tally.
The story of the day came in the pool as Ben Proud retained his 50m freestyle title from Glasgow in a time just shy of the Games record he set in the heats.
After storming out to a healthy lead 25 metres in, Proud held his own and finished nearly half a second ahead of South African Bradley Tandy to clinch gold in back-to-back Commonwealth Games.
Sharing his plans for the future, Proud said: “I’ve got a couple more years to really try prove it, manage my skills a bit better so I can move from rung to rung”.
England’s other gold of the day came in the early hours of the morning when David Luckman and Parag Patel shot their way to Queen’s prize pairs gold in the first final of the day with a spectacular display to hold off Wales and Scotland. Kenneth Parr also secured a shooting medal as he took bronze in 50m prone rifle final.
There was more success in the water, however, as Holly Hibbott’s sensational swim was enough to claim silver, with Eleanor Faulkner taking bronze in the women’s 400m freestyle. The men’s 4x100m relay team, including gold medallist Proud, narrowly missed out on gold to the hosts by nine one hundredths of a second, as they took silver in the final swimming event at the Games
Harry Tanfield joined his brother as a Gold Coast medal-winner as he took a phenomenal silver in the outdoor cycling individual time trials, much to his complete disbelief. Hayley Simmonds replicated Tanfield’s success in the women’s event as she took bronze, breaking down in tears upon hearing the news.
In the final few medals of the day, Team England continued their success in the weightlifting and para-powerlifting success, as Ali Jawad secured bronze in the lightweight para-lifting event, despite an 18-month battle with Crohn’s disease prior to the Games.
Later in the day, Zoe Newson also took bronze in the women’s lightweight event, while Louise Sugden went one better to clinch silver in the heavyweight competition. What makes the accomplishment all the more impressive is the fact that Sugden only made the switch to powerlifting from wheelchair basketball nine months ago.
"I think when it sinks in I might feel different,” an awe-struck Sugden explained. “I knew I had the strength to beat the Kenyan, but obviously inexperience could have crept in today. I held it together for the big moment.”
Outside of the medals, England continued their widely successful campaign in the boxing events, as all six male boxers advanced to the semi-finals in their respective weight categories.