Apr 05 - Team Gibraltar Completes First Day In Commonwealth Games
Day one at the XXI Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia for Gibraltar is complete.
The highlight on the fist day of competition came at the Optus Aquatic Centre where Jordan Gonzalez broke the National 100m Backstroke record by almost two seconds clocking 1:01:38.
Speaking after the race Jordan said “the race felt extremely controlled for me I’m happy with the time now to smash the 50m record.”
Two other swimmers, Matt Savitz and Jim Sanderson, were also in action. Both went in the 50m Fly with Jim coming home 26:95 with Matt a touch faster in 26:85.
The triathlon went ahead at lunchtime despite adverse weather hitting the area. Andrew Gordon came in 28th just over the hour mark in 1:00:59, Chris Walker was 29thin 1:02:00 and debutant Robert Matto was 31stin 1:05:47.
Chris Walker, the veteran and five-time Commonwealth Games athlete, said after the event:
"Despite torrential rain strong winds and even stronger currents to deal with we managed to finish with many of the professional stars of the World Triathlon Series still within sights on the last lap of the run. Andrew and myself managed to avoid getting lapped on the course for the first time ever finishing in 28th and 29th place respectively with Robert putting in the performance of his life to finish in 31st out of 36 starters. We received amazing support out on the course and from back home in Gibraltar. As a Triathlon Team this was without doubt the best performance at a Commonwealth Games."
Squash player Christian Navas played in the first round of Men’s Singles. Despite a promising start an injury midway through the first set was a major setback and he went on to lose in three straight sets. He’ll now hope to get patched up for the plate competition.
Moving on to tomorrow and the only action focus is on the Optus Aquatic Centre where Aidan Carroll makes his games debut in the 200m Freestyle. Christina Linares swims in 50m Freestyle and the male quartet go in the heats of the 4x100m Freestyle relay.
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