Men’s 400m Freestyle

Australia’s Elijah Winnington backed up his World title from last month in Budapest to take the gold medal in Birmingham. With a similar race plan to his gold medal last month, Winnington attacked the front half, taking a stab at Paul Biedermann’s world record from 2009, before falling off pace on the back 200. Winnington turned at 1:49.53 at the 200, well ahead of Biedermann’s record pace, as well as Ian Thorpe’s pace from 2002 when he set the previous record, showing signs that he has the speed to potentially set the global mark within the next two years.

Winnington’s time of 3:43.06 was good enough to lead a podium sweep with teammates Samuel Short (3:45.07) and Mack Horton (3:46.49), while Northern Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen set an Irish record again with a 3:46.62 in fourth place.

Women’s 400m IM

15-year-old Summer McIntosh continued her dream season in 2022 with a new Commonwealth record in the 400 IM at 4:29.01, putting her third all-time. McIntosh, fresh off two individual gold medals in Budapest last month, backed up her 400 IM World title with a Commonwealth title as she finished well in front of Australia’s Kiah Melverton (4:36.78) and Scotland’s Katie Shanahan (4:39.37).

McIntosh’s swim was three seconds faster than her gold medal in Hungary, as starting the meet with the 400 IM rather than finishing with it proved dividends for her as one of swimming’s next stars could be in line for a huge medal haul in Birmingham. McIntosh improved on her own world junior record to swim the fastest time anyone has done in six years as she inches closer to Katinka Hosszu’s world record from 2016 (4:26.36).

Women’s 200m Freestyle

Australia celebrated its second podium sweep in three events as Ariarne Titmus held off a hard charge from upstart Mollie O’Callaghan in the final. The Olympic champion Titmus raced to a 1:53.89 while O’Callaghan improved on her silver medal from last month’s Worlds with a silver here at 1:54.01. O’Callaghan was a 1:55 en route to her silver medal last month and improved mightily to nearly pull the upset of the meet.

Titmus has been chasing the world record for the last year but ultimately fell short of Federica Pellegrini’s 1:52.98 swim from 2009 as she swims her second sub-1:54 of the year and her fourth sub-1:54 of her life, the most for any woman in history. O’Callaghan also moved up to sixth all-time with her swim.

The bronze medal went to Australia’s Madison Wilson (1:56.17) over England’s Freya Anderson (1:56.83).

Men’s 200 Breaststroke

Image Source: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Australia’s Zac Stubblety-Cook had his work cut out for him in the final of the 200 breast as the world record holder got all he could handle from England’s James Wilby. Stubblety-Cook, the world record holder, Olympic champion, and World champion, had seemingly penciled his name onto the back of the 200 breaststroke gold medal based on his last 12 months, but he barely got the touch over Wilby with a 2:08.07, with Wilby’s 2:08.59 for silver.

Wilby took the race out in 1:02.10, with Stubblety-Cook back at 1:02.79. The Aussie made his move on the third 50, but Wilby held his own, and the English defending champion held the lead at the 150 turn. Ultimately, Stubblety-Cook got the touch to win his first Commonwealth medal as he beat the last two champs - Wilby and Scotland’s Ross Murdoch (2:10.41). Murdoch won the final in 2014 and ran down Australia’s Matthew Wilson (2:10.57) in what is expected to be one of Murdoch’s last swims at an international meet.

Mixed 4x100 Free Relay

Image Source: Al Bello/Getty Images

The mixed free relay made its Commonwealth Games debut and to no one’s surprise, the inaugural gold medal went to the Australian team. The quartet of William Yang (48.80), Kyle Chalmers (47.55), Mollie O’Callaghan (52.62) and Emma McKeon (52.21) swam a 3:21.18, two seconds off their own world record set last month at the World Championships.

The English team won silver at 3:22.85 with the team of Lewis Burras (48.28), Tom Dean (48.12), Anna Hopkin (53.27), and Freya Anderson (52.78) giving the team from Down Under all they can handle in their home pool in Birmingham. That same quartet swam in Budapest last month for Great Britain to finish fourth overall.

The Canadian team of Javier Acevedo (49.05), Josh Liendo (47.89), Rebecca Smith (54.41) and Maggie Mac Neil (53.51) won the bronze medal with a 3:24.86

Men’s 100 Backstroke S9

Australia’s Timothy Hodge sprinted to the 100 back gold medal with a 1:01.88 ahead of New Zealand’s Jesse Reynolds (1:03.65) and Northern Ireland’s Barry McClements (1:05.09).

Women’s 100 Freestyle S9

New Zealand’s Sophie Pascoe won her first Commonwealth Games medal in a freestyle event with a 1:02.95 ahead of Australia’s Emily Beecroft (1:03.74) and Scotland’s Toni Shaw (1:03.75). That is Pascoe’s fifth Commonwealth Games medal of her career, with all of them gold.

LOOKING AHEAD

Semi-final wrap from Friday and a look ahead to Saturday’s medal events.

Image Source: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Men’s 50 Butterfly - Gold Coast Redemption For Proud?

England’s Ben Proud will be looking to redeem himself in the final of the 50 butterfly after getting disqualified in the heats in 2018. Proud is the top seed (23.06) after semifinals ahead of Singapore’s Tzen Wei Teong (23.24) and Trinidad & Tobago’s Dylan Carter (23.41) as both nations have only one swimming medal at the Commonwealth Games and could be in line for one more.

Rising stars Josh Liendo (23.51), Jacob Peters (23.51) and Cameron Gray (23.58) will also race for medals, as will Adam Barrett (23.59), who will race on his 30th birthday on Saturday.

The big story are the names that won’t be in the final as Kyle Chalmers (23.65), Chad Le Clos (23.67), and Cody Simpson (23.87) finished 10th, 11th, and 14th overall.

Women’s 50 Breaststroke - Three For Three Games Records?

South Africa’s Lara Van Niekerk reset her own Games Record from the heats with a 29.80 in the semi finals as the South African women have a real shot to sweep the breaststroke events on the women’s side. Tatjana Schoenmaker, the Olympic gold medalist and world record holder in the 200, will race alongside Van Niekerk in the final after turning in a 30.94 for fifth overall seed. Kaylene Corbett also advanced to the final for the South Africans as the eighth seed at 31.43.

It should be a runaway for Van Niekerk in the final as second seed Imogen Clark (30.24) of England is 0.44 behind the South African, with Australia’s Chelsea Hodges (30.50) in pursuit.

Defending silver medalist Sarah Vasey of England did not advance in 10th place at 31.47.

Men’s 100 Backstroke - South Africa’s Newest Champion?

South Africa could very well have two gold medalists on Saturday in the swimming pool in Birmingham as Pieter Coetze turned in the top semi final time of 53.67 to sit ahead of England’s Brodie Williams (54.00) and New Zealand’s Andrew Jeffcoat (54.01).

Defending champion Mitch Larkin of Australia should not be counted out and will still have a lot of eyes on him as the sixth seed for Saturday at 54.26. Olympic medalist in the 200 back Luke Greenbank (54.23) of England could also play spoiler and win the gold medal in the two lap event as the fifth seed.

India also will have its first finalist in the pool this year in Srihari Nataraj (54.55) as the seventh seed.

Women’s 100 Butterfly Semi Finals - Olympic Grudge Match

Two of the three medalists from the Tokyo podium will race head to head Saturday with Australia’s Emma McKeon (57.49) and Canada’s Maggie Mac Neil (57.72) facing off after respectable semi final swims.

It’s unlikely someone will win outside those top two as defending bronze medalist Brianna Throssell (57.99) and Alex Perkins (58.22), both from Australia, will lead the fight for the bronze medal.

Men’s 200 Freestyle - Scott vs. Dean

Olympic champion Tom Dean of England will face off against long-time friend and rival Duncan Scott of Scotland. They both represented Great Britain in Tokyo, but will wear different colors in Birmingham, and both are expected to put up fast times in the 200 free final.

Men’s 400 IM - Does Clareburt or Smith Unseat Scott as Best All-Around Swimmer in the Commonwealth?

Duncan Scott will have a busy day Saturday with the 200 free, 400 IM and potentially the 4x100 free relay. With all that racing, does he back off in either of his individual events, or does he go all out in all three? And if he does race the 400 IM, does he get challenged by either Brendon Smith of Australia or Lewis Clareburt of New Zealand. Smith won bronze in Tokyo while Clareburt was fourth in Budapest this year at Worlds.

Women’s 4x100 Free Relay - World Record For Australia?

The Australians have proven they can win even without Olympic champion Emma McKeon at the World Championships, so with her added to the Commonwealth Games team, is that enough to send the Australians to a new world record? It happened in front of a home crowd in the Gold Coast in 2018 as well as in Glasgow in 2014 so does that continue for a third Games?

Men’s 4x100 Free Relay - Can England or Canada take down the Australians?

England and Canada have a young core group of sprinters on the rise that have brought them to international prominence in the men’s sprint relay. Even though the Australians have the almighty Kyle Chalmers, they still seem vulnerable. Can a Tom Dean-led English team or a Josh Liendo-led Canadian team pull the upset of the Games?

SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE

Afternoon session

(All times local)

  • 19:07 Men’s 50m Butterfly final
  • 19:12 Women’s 50m Breaststroke final
  • 19:18 Women’s 50m Freestyle semi-finals
  • 19:43 Men’s 200m Freestyle final
  • 20:03 Men’s 100m Breaststroke semi-finals
  • 20:22 Women’s 100m Backstroke semi-finals
  • 20:49 Men’s 400m IM final
  • 20:58 Women’s 100m Butterfly final
  • 21:05 Men’s 100m Backstroke final
  • 21:26 Women’s 4x100m Freestyle final
  • 21:43 Men’s 4x100m Freestyle final