It took Myroslav Dykun just 40 seconds to deliver England’s first Commonwealth Games wrestling gold for 24 years at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex in Delhi today.

Having seen off the threat of India’s Sunil Kumar this morning, the 27-year-old wasted little time in getting his hands on the precious prize this evening as he overpowered his Canadian opponent Jack Bond in the 66kg Greco Roman final.

Dykun had boldly stated his goal here was to win the gold, and he didn’t disappoint as he quickly grasped Bond and pinned him with a firm lock before holding his opponent’s shoulders to the mat for the required second to win by a fall.

It was a decisive way to end England wrestling’s Commonwealth Games drought which stretched back to Noel Loban in 1986.

For Dykun, who moved to England seven years ago from Ukraine and has two British championships to his name, it was more than ample justification for his decision to switch from freestyle earlier this year.

“I feel great,” said the former Ukrainian. “I knew I had a chance here because I had such a good training camp in Russia before coming out. Everything has gone so well.

“Now I can look forward to London 2012.”