Commonwealth Games: gymnasts leave Glasgow with strong showing
Canadian gymnasts concluded their fine run at the Commonwealth Games with four more medals – two gold – on Friday.
Scott Morgan (photo above) will leave Glasgow with four medals after he took the Commonwealth title in men’s vault. Previously Morgan also won gold in the rings to go with a silver in floor exercise and a men’s team all around bronze medal.
Olympian Ellie Black won a gold (women’s beam) and a bronze (floor) on Friday, to complete the set with a silver medal in the vault a day earlier. The fourth Canadian artistic gymnastics medal came from Kevin Lytwyn, a bronze in the horizontal bar. Like Black, Lytwyn won three medals at the Games.
Altogether Canada won 15 gymnastics medals at the Commonwealth Games, second only to England (19). Leading the way for Canada was rhythmic gymnast Patricia Bezzoubenko, whose six medals (five gold and one bronze) is set to lead the overall individual medal count.
Diving
Olympic bronze medal winning diver Jennifer Abel defended her Commonwealth title in the 1m event on Friday by winning gold and giving Canada its fifth diving medal in Scotland. Abel won a silver earlier with Pamela Ware in the 3m synchro.
Athletics
Canada won three more medals in athletics on Friday, bringing its number to 16 before Saturday’s track and field finale.
In the most exciting finish of the day, Olympian Cam Levins came away with a bronze medal in the men’s 10,000m. Levins went for broke at about the halfway mark of the final lap but was slowly reeled in by eventual champion Moses Kipsiro of Uganda and Kenya’s Josphat Bett Kipkoech. The three medallists crossed the finish line at remarkably close times of 27:56.11, 27:56.14 and 27:56.23 respectively in an incredible all-out, action-packed conclusion.
Two-time Olympic hurdler Angela Whyte added a bronze to her collection of two silver medals in the women’s 100m hurdles from the previous Commonwealth Games in Delhi and Melbourne. A second bronze medal at Hampden Park came from Shawnacy Barber in men’s pole vault.
Boxing
Mandy Bujold contributed to the medal count on Friday by winning a bronze in the women’s 48-51 kg category. Bujold lost her semifinal bout to Nicola Adams of England, though Canada did put two boxers – Ariane Fortin and Samir El-Mais – through to Saturday’s gold medal finals.
Canada currently holds 75 medals (30 gold, 14 silver) in all events, including podium finishes from its para-athletes, with two days of competition remaining. The country is well positioned to finish third in the medal table trailing England and Australia.
