Charlie Tanfield continued Team England’s medal haul in Day 2 as he picked up gold for a stellar performance in the men’s 4000m Individual Pursuit, beating Scotland’s John Archibald.
Holding a commanding lead from the outset, Tanfield’s victory never looked in any doubt, finishing with a time of 4:15.952, nearly a second ahead of Archibald.
Tanfield was part of the team that took silver in Day 1’s men’s 4000m team pursuit, and the 21-year-old was keen to add to his collection in the Gold Coast, posting a Games record in qualification, finishing just a second shy of a world record.
Adding to Sarah Vasey’s gold in the pool this morning and the women’s artistic gymnastic silver, Team England will be hoping to replicate Day 1’s medal success and stave off the threat posed by the Australians for the top of the medal chart.
After his commanding victory, Tanfield said:
“I knew I was in a good place after qualifying, and towards the end of the race I thought I messed up for a second, but I managed to hold on to the finish and was really ecstatic with the result.
“In my mind I was thinking, I’m just going to have to go full gas here and hope for the best and that was the output so I was so happy with it.
“It all depends on the conditions, it’s hard to estimate what splits you want to be doing in terms of holding out for the finish and your condition. But in the qualifier I definitely got it right, and in the final I almost paid the price but I got a bit of a juicy start and I managed to get to the end and getting the gold was the main thing.
“You never know really, I want to win, and conditions are dependant on that. So I’ll just give (the world record) my best shot and see what happens.
“Results just keep on coming and it’s just so good to keep on proving myself on the world stage. It’s unbelievable. Two years ago when I went to nationals and it was my first time riding track since I was about 16, 15 my ultimate goal was to get to the Commonwealth Games and I think I’ve achieved a bit more than that.”