The swimming part of the Commonwealth Games concluded in Birmingham with stellar gold performances from the likes of Australia’s Ariarne Titmus, England’s Ben Proud, and Scotland’s Duncan Scott.
Men’s 200m IM
Scotland’s Duncan Scott won the battle of the titans on the final night of swimming from Birmingham with a 1:56.88 in the final of the 200 IM as he set a new Games record in winning ahead of England’s Tom Dean (1:57.01). Scott is the first man from Scotland to win the Commonwealth title in the 200 IM since Gregor Tait won gold in 2006. Scott also upgraded his silver from 2018 with gold here in Birmingham, his 12th career medal at the Commonwealth Games.
“To be honest, I am absolutely exhausted. I was really hurting in there – I think the time probably reflects that,” Dean said. “But as I said earlier in the week these finals at the international level, time goes out of the window a little bit. The times are what gets you to the meet and puts you in the position to medal: once you’re in there it kind of goes out the window. Absolutely exhausted.”
Scott had put his foot down on the backstroke leg, taking the lead halfway and holding onto it the rest of the way. Dean threw everything at him on the last 50, splitting a 27.45 on the freestyle to nearly catch Scott as the two titans of British Swimming finished gold and silver for the second time this week after Scott earlier won the 200 freestyle. This is Dean’s sixth silver medal of the week and third individually after runner-up finishes in the 100 and 200 free.
"My sixth silver of the Games. I was telling all the officials, it’s like silver season at the moment,” Dean said. “I can’t seem to get away from that man [Duncan Scott] there. It was really, really special. I’m happy with the time, getting down to those low 1:57s. A few more metres and I think I may have closed him [Scott] down a little bit. I knew he would really want to come here to Birmingham and stamp his name as a Scot, but the racing is always tight. It's incredible to have two Brits going head-to-head over and over again."
Both Scott and Dean have been faster this year, but they concluded their individual swims with medals here, as they will finish the night in the medley relay.
New Zealand’s Lewis Clareburt, who had already celebrated gold medals in the 400 IM and 200 butterfly, finished with the bronze medal at 1:57.59, which is a season-best for him. It is his third medal of the week and the fourth Commonwealth medal of his career.
"To get the same colour medal as when I started the Commonwealth Games back in 2018, it’s pretty cool,” Clareburt said.
Men’s 50m Freestyle
All eyes were on the clock when England’s Ben Proud dove into the water for the 50 freestyle final in Birmingham as he had shown lots of speed throughout the week but hadn’t carried that speed for the whole 50 meters in each of the rounds. On Wednesday, at full throttle, Proud swam a 21.36 to take the 50 free gold medal for the third straight Commonwealth Games.
The time is just off his season best of 21.32 from when he won the World Championships in Budapest as Proud has been on a tear since missing the podium at last year’s Olympics. Since then he has become World short course and long course champion, as well as Commonwealth champion.
“It’s a year ago since I was giving my interviews and burst into tears because of a bad swim at the Olympics,” Proud said. “So much has changed. This is really my redemption year. Something has clicked and I’ve finally understood how to swim quicker in finals. There’s still more to polish in that race.”
Proud won ahead of Lewis Burras (21.68) in a 1-2 for the English team.
“It was incredible to walk out and hear the roar of the crowd,” Burras said. “There was a little girl who shouted, ‘Go England’ and I just pointed to her and I knew I was ready to go. The race felt good, it’s a PB, so to end a meet of ups and downs like this, I couldn’t be happier.”
Canada’s Joshua Liendo (22.02) won the bronze after coming off a gold in the 100 butterfly yesterday as he just held off Dylan Carter (22.10) of Trinidad & Tobago.
"Going in, I was definitely a little bit fatigued,” Liendo said. “I'm not overly happy with the time. Obviously, I want to always be in the 21s. With the meet I've had and the way it's been going, I'm pretty happy with the way I stepped up and raced.”
Women’s 50m Backstroke
Canada’s Kylie Masse finally broke through in the 50m back final after two silvers in the 100 and 200 and the mixed medley to get gold in a new Games record at 27.31. Masse had finished second in both the Olympic distances to Australia’s Kaylee McKeown as the Olympic champion could not complete the hat trick and instead finished with the bronze at 27.58.
The time for Masse tied her time from the FINA World Championships where she also won gold in 27.31.
"I was reminding myself to stay strong and hold good water,” Masse said. "It's fun. It's great to be amongst these ladies. I've got to know some of them quite well over the years, and that's what sport is all about."
Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan, fresh off a 100m freestyle gold from yesterday, won the silver after leading at 25m at 27.47. O’Callaghan has a strong backstroke and may add that to her repertoire in international meets moving forward as she picked up her sixth medal of the week with her swim here.
England’s Lauren Cox (27.61) and Wales’ Medi Harris (27.62) had just missed the podium in fourth and fifth.
Men’s 1500m Freestyle
Australia’s Sam Short joined the elusive sub-14:50 club that welcomed its 35th member as Short won the Commonwealth title with a 14:48.54. Short was in a tight race with Northern Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen, who took the lead at 450 meters but couldn’t quite pull away from Short, who regained the lead at 900m and never looked back.
"I have been training for this for a long time,” Short said. “Finally I put the race together properly, so I’m stoked. I would have preferred a good time over gold but to get both is amazing."
Short, age 18, improved from his best of 14:57 from last year’s Olympic Trials to win his first international medal as his career is just beginning. Australia had long dominated this event internationally with the likes of Stephen Holland, Glen Housman, Kieren Perkins and Grant Hackett. Still, the Australians have struggled to find the next great 1500 man. Short might be that guy to fill the void by 2024.
Wiffen won Northern Ireland’s first able-bodied swimming medal with a new Irish record of 14:51.79, lowering his own time from the World Championships in June where he was ninth with a 14:57. Wiffen, age 21, improved on his fourth-place finish in the 400m free on night one as he is now a legend in Irish Swimming.
“They went out very fast,” Wiffen said of the field. “I don’t really like to go out that fast. But I knew if I kept building for it I’d do really well towards the end. My tactics were a smooth first 100m, build for it until 500m, stay level, and it was meant to be at 800m to push on, but I went a bit earlier. Sam’s [SHORT] turns were better than mine, so I will work on that in training and I’ll take him out next time!”
The bronze went to England’s Luke Turley (15:12.78).
"It means a lot,” Turley said. “It's been a tough year for me. I've worked really hard to get here. So for me to go out, race the race and come out with a medal is an absolute dream. This is my first year swimming full time, my first year at a senior stage, so to come out of my first competition with a medal brings me so much confidence to keep going, keep pushing, all the way to Paris [2024 Olympic Games], because that's the ultimate dream."
Women’s 400m Freestyle
It was one of the most hyped events of the meet, and it lived up to the billing, as two of the four women to have broken 4:00 in the 400m freestyle were on display on the final night of swimming at the Commonwealth Games. It was Olympic gold medalist and world record holder Ariarne Titmus (3:58.06) of Australia won in a thriller over Worlds silver medalist, 15-year-old Summer McIntosh (3:59.32) of Canada.
Titmus had taken the race out hard in her usual fashion, flipping at 1:58.33, with McIntosh at 1:59.16. The young Canadian did not make it easy for the Olympic champion, staying within a second and a half of her the entirety of the second half. The time for Titmus was faster than Katie Ledecky’s gold medal-winning time from the FINA World Championships of 3:58.15, as Titmus now has eight times swum under the magical 4:00 barrier.
“I am really happy. This meet was more about me coming and having fun (than) racing,” Titmus said. “I think that’s what the Commonwealth Games is (about); I’m happy to get the job done. (McIntosh) pushed me the whole way, I knew she would be there. The back half of this programme has been really challenging with the 800m last night, so I didn’t really have any expectations coming in tonight. I just wanted to do my best and mentally be there. And I think I did that and I am happy to back it up with the win.”
This is McIntosh’s second time under the mark as she was slightly faster than her 3:59.39 swum at the World Championships. McIntosh now has five Commonwealth Games medal in her maiden voyage, while Titmus brings her weekly haul to four.
"I don’t think of the person,” McIntosh said when asked about racing Titmus. “I just think of the opportunity to race someone that fast - just like I did at worlds with Katie [Ledecky, USA] and they’re both just amazing people, in and out of the pool. It was an honour to race her and I had a great time."
Lost in the race was bronze medalist Kiah Melverton (4:03.12) of Australia touching ahead of New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather (4:03.84) and Australia’s Lani Pallister (4:04.43) in a thrilling finish. This was Melverton’s fourth medal of the week as she swam a new best time here to add to her silver in the 400 IM and 800 free, as well as gold and world record in the 4x200 free relay.
“I’m racing two of the best swimmers in the 400m freestyle at the moment,” Melverton said. “Summer [McIntosh] is only 15 years old, so she’s super young and she’s coming through. Ariarne [Titmus] is the world record holder and Olympic champion, and I’ve just got to get in and do my own race and let them girls do what they do.”
Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay
England snapped Australia’s stranglehold over the relays in Birmingham with a gold in the men’s 4x100 medley relay with a 3:31.80 to Australia’s 3:31.88. England turns the tables on 2018 when the Aussies ran them down in front of a home crowd to win the event on the last night, as the English held them off in front of their home crowd.
Both teams were right on their swims from the World Championships when a united British team won the bronze over Australia in fourth.
The team of Brodie Williams (54.02), James Wilby (59.22), James Guy (51.22), and Tom Dean (47.34) held off a furious rally from the Australian team of Bradley Woodward (54.07), Zac Stubblety-Cook (59.92), Matthew Temple (51.03), and Kyle Chalmers (46.86) to win the first relay gold for England of the week.
"In 2014 [when England won] and back in 2018 [when Australia won], to beat obviously the Australians. They're all good friends of mine,” Guy said. "To swim in front of a home crowd is fantastic. We knew it would be quite a tight race but I just had to make sure it was the fastest back 25 we had and that last part of the race and it worked. Four boys, new team for the relay. What an experience that was to win."
"It was always going to be pretty tight,” Wilby said. “On paper throughout this week we’ve been close to one another, England and Australia. We are all fatigued but there is nothing more special to finish the week with doing a big one for the team, really banding together and putting in all the effort. We should be incredibly proud of that - I certainly am."
It is also the first gold medal for Dean after six silvers.
"Six silvers, one gold. That is such a sweet way to finish for what has been an incredible week,” Dean said. "The big number seven. This week has been so special and like Jimmy [James GUY] said, it’s the first time we’ve done this combo with the relay. It just came together so well, executed perfect race plans. It is so special to deliver a result like that in front of 5,000 England fans."
The bronze medal went to Scotland at 3:35.11 as the team of Craig McNally (54.79), Ross Murdoch (59.59), Duncan Scott (51.74), and Evan Jones (48.99) held off the team from Wales to win their second relay medal of the week.
Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay
The Australian women closed out the swimming portion of the Commonwealth Games with gold in the medley relay - at 3:54.44, comfortably ahead of Canada (3:56.59) and England (3:59.44).
The team of Kaylee McKeown (58.79), Chelsea Hodges (1:06.68), Emma McKeon (56.59), and Mollie O’Callaghan (52.38) won the gold medal in a nearly identical time to their 3:54.44 silver from the World Championships in June. That all-star relay gives McKeon her eighth medal, O’Callaghan her seventh, and McKeown her sixth of the week as the women in the green and gold certainly enjoyed a successful week.
Canada put together a solid swim for silver with Kylie Masse (59.01), Sophie Angus (1:07.66), Maggie MacNeil (56.59), and Summer McIntosh (53.33) swimming for them. McIntosh picks up her sixth medal of the week, while Masse and MacNeil each earned five medals in Birmingham.
England won the bronze with Lauren Cox (1:00.72), Molly Renshaw (1:06.61), Laura Stephens (58.96), and Anna Hopkin (53.15) running down the team from South Africa to get a spot on the podium.
Diving on Deck
With swimming coming to a fitting conclusion after six days of competition in Birmingham, the aquatics scene at the Commonwealth Games turns to springboard and platform for five days of diving competition.