Commonwealth Games 2022: Geraint Thomas wins bronze but early crash costs him gold
- Geraint Thomas wins bronze after crash proves costly in men’s time trial
- It is official – England is the world’s heptathlon talent factory
- Eilish McColgan follows mother’s footsteps with thrilling gold medal run at Commonwealth Games
- Anna Henderson wins silver in women’s time trial
Last month, Geraint Thomas forgot to remove his gilet before the prologue to the Tour de France in Copenhagen, an error which cost him any chance of the yellow jersey. On Thursday, a crash less than two minutes into the Commonwealth Games time trial almost certainly cost the Welshman the gold medal.
Thomas was able to remount his bike and he ended up taking a creditable bronze, just 28 seconds behind Australian Rohan Dennis and two seconds behind Englishman Fred Wright. But the BBC’s Chris Boardman reckoned the crash alone cost him 30 seconds. And he finished with cuts and scrapes on his knees, a bent brake lever and damage to his gears.
“It is never straightforward, is it?” Thomas said, shaking his head at the finish. It tends not to be where he is concerned.
Thomas has won so much in his extraordinary career – two Olympic gold medals on the track and the Tour de France in 2018 being the highlights – it seems churlish to ask how much more he might have won. But there have been so many crashes down the years. At least one Giro d’Italia got away, possibly two.
This latest crash was maddening in that Thomas – last down the ramp as the No 1 seed – had only just left West Park and got out onto the open road when he overcooked a left-hander, skidded and clipped a metal barrier leg, sending him sprawling over his handlebars.
Thomas’ crash in pictures
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BBC
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BBC
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BBC
As is his way, he did not look for excuses. “Sometimes, it’s pure bad luck,” he said. “Today, I have to take it on the chin as it was my fault.” Thomas did make the point that he had not been able to ride the route on closed roads, as would normally be the case at bigger races.
“I did the recon in traffic, so it’s pretty pointless really, other than knowing where the uphills and downhills are,” he said, adding that might have been to blame for some of the other crashes. England’s Dan Bigham was another notable one. But as he admitted, it was the same for everyone.
“It’s my fault. I was thinking ‘it’s a sweeping left’ but suddenly there are barriers in the way and their legs are sticking out, and it’s ‘Oh s—!’”
Asked whether it cost him the gold, Thomas all but agreed. “Obviously, it’s not just the actual time on the floor, not moving,” he said. “My brake was bent at a right angle and the gear thing was off. But it was more mentally.
“But I’ve had good practice of trying to refocus in time trials with something going wrong. It’s frustrating but at the end of the day, you know, with that happening, it is good to come away with a medal.”
Thomas’s presence certainly added stardust to an event that also featured a 46-year-old immigration officer from Walsall, racing for the Falkland Islands, and a 48-year-old doorkeeper at the House of Commons, who was racing for Ghana. Both finished around 16 minutes behind Thomas, who was much sought-after for autographs, even from fellow riders. “It’s kind of strange when you have people come into the pen asking for photos that you’re racing against,” Thomas said. “But it’s great.”
The Welshman’s crash was also a bonus for Wright. The 23-year-old south Londoner produced what he called as “the best time trial of my career” and was thrilled with his silver. Coming straight from a brilliant Tour de France, where he infiltrated the breakaway on multiple occasions and finished second on one stage, the ride bodes well for Wright’s chances in Sunday’s road race, where most nations will be keen to avoid a sprint finish, given the presence of the Isle of Man’s Mark Cavendish. “It’s not going to be your conventional pro bike race, where there’s control,” Wright promised. “It’ll be attack after attack.”
Commonwealth Games day seven: As it happened
And that concludes day seven!
Can you believe we are now a week into the games. That has flown by! It was an action packed day as we witnessed the gold medal slip away from Geraint Thomas after an early crash in the men’s cycling time trial this morning. A heated hockey match between England and Canada in the early afternoon was quite the entertainment! We can’t ignore the medal rush in the opening day of the diving where England secured four medals but the stand out has to be watching 17-year-old Andrea Spendolini Siriex win gold in her first Commonwealth Games appearance and Jack Laugher becoming three times Commonwealth champion in the 1m springboard!
Silver medal for Lawrence Okoye in discus throw!
What a comeback! Lawrence Okoye first broke onto the athletics scene in 2012 before leaving to go and play in the NFL. This is his first Commonwealth Games since he returned from the NFL in 2019. You can see from his reaction just how much this medal means to him as he parades round the stadium with an England flag.
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REUTERS
Games record for Rasheed Broadbell!
Jamaican’s Rasheed Broadbell has just ran a PB and games record! The 21-year-old takes the gold medal and continues the Jamaican legacy in this event, making up for the absence of this teammate Hansle Parchment.
An excellent run for the England boys! Andrew Pozzi takes the bronze medal edging out Joshua Zeller who finished fourth!
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Olympic champion out of the 110m hurdle finals!
Olympic champion Hansle Parchment has had to withdraw from this evening’s final due to a hamstring issue that caused him to miss out on the World Championships last month.
Watch out for England duo Josh Zeller and Andrew Pozzi who will feature in tonight’s final.
Semi-final opponents?
If England win today’s match they play Australia in the semi-finals and if they lose they play Jamaica. In the ideal world Jamaica would be the preferred semi-final opponent but the roses will want to win their last group game. As they say you have to beat the best to be the best!
The roses are looking to defend their 2018 Commonwealth title where they beat Australia in the final in an unbelievably tight game that ended 52-51!
The roses are raring to go!
It is not long until the England Roses take on New Zealand in their final group game of pool B! This is set to be their toughest test so far after they beat Uganda comfortably on Tuesday. New Zealand thrashed TTO on Tuesday winning 80-24! Tonight’s game kicks off at 21:30 and you won’t want to miss it.
Gold for Andrea Spendolini Siriex!
The 17-year-old has only gone and won gold at her first Commonwealth games, WOW!
Her teammate Lois finishes 20 points behind her and will take silver! What a finish for England in the first day of the diving in Birmingham. That is four medals secured already for England in two events.
Eden Cheng finishes fourth just missing out on the bronze medal.
Johnson-Thompson gets her gold!
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PA
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Nielson is an inspiration for many…
Lina is such an amazing character and her reaction to the race is admirable:
I had the worst prep coming into this, it has been a really rocky ten days trying to navigate everything my body has gone through. I didn’t really even get a training session in so I just wanted to go out and see if I could compete and I gave it my best shot. I am just so happy I got to experience a home crowd, I wanted to cry at the start.
When talking about the interview that came out earlier this week she said:
I just wanted to show what athletes might be going through, running three seconds slower at the world champs was not me and there was an explanation for it. I couldn’t even walk properly a week ago, so to come out and race at the Commonwealth Games I am so proud of myself.
Lina Nielson is one to watch!
A highlight of this evening will be England’s Lina Nielson competing in the 400m hurdles at 19:38! Lina was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis a month before her 18th birthday and you can read all about her incredible story here.
Houlden couldn’t swim till age nine!
This is Jordan Houlden’s first Commonwealth Games and what an impact he is making! Apparently the 24-year-old refused to jump in the water on the first day of a diving taster camp when he was nine as he couldn’t swim! Look at him now!
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PA
Silver for Mark Swan in the men’s para powerlifting!
England’s Mark Swan finished second in the men’s lightweight category. He was ten points behing Malaysia’s Bonnie Bunyau Gustin who took gold. This is Swan’s first Commonwealth Games and what a debut!
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AFP
England men’s hockey team finish second in group B
England beat Canada 11-2! They fall four goals short of topping India in the group, but an impressive performance nevertheless! The brawl earlier in the match weakened the Canadian side and they struggled to bounce back following the sending off of Panesar.
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Less than an hour until England take on New Zealand in the cricket
England are at the top group B along with NZ as the group stages come to a close in the T20. It is the first time cricket has featured in the Commonwealth Games and England are yet to disappoint.
Despite missing their captain Heather Knight who is out due to injury, England have won both games in their campaign so far with a comfortable win over South Africa on Tuesday with 26 runs separating the sides.
New Zealand are the biggest threat to England in group B and tonight is expected to be a close match up to decide the winner of group B!
Hockey heating up!
Not sure what happened there but seems to be a bit of a brawl going on originally between Griffiths and Panesar after their sticks get caught! The rest of the lads are quick to join in and the ref brings out a red card for Panesar!!!
Think that served him right after grabbing the English player by the neck!
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GETTY IMAGES
Geraint Thomas on the crash that cost him is gold medal:
We hadn’t ridden the course with a closed road properly and I just went in too hot. I thought it was a sweeping left, which means no breaks and I clipped the barrier leg on the exit. Then I struggled to get the chain back on and my break was a bit bent, but it is what it is.
After I tried to re-focus and get stuck into the ride, my legs felt pretty good and to come away with a medal is okay in the end.
Fred Wright’s reaction to winning silver in the men’s time trial
It is super special, I thought to myself before the race if i recover my legs enough after the Tour de France I can do something good here. I could tell after the first couple of climbs I was in for a good ride. I didn’t think i’d be so close so I am really happy with that, it was the best time trial I have ever done!
My confidence is sky high now, and I am looking forward to the road race on Sunday!
Zoe Newson takes gold in women’s lightweight para powerlifting!
Newson just edges the victory over teammate Olivia Broome by two points! Broome increased her PB by 4kg in today’s competition to win the silver medal! The bronze medal goes to Kenya’s Hellen Wawira Kariuki in her first Commonwealth Games.
Coming up this evening…
Thanks Greg! I’ll be taking you through this evening’s events!
We have an interesting evening ahead, India have just beat Wales 4-1 in their final group game of pool B! England will need to beat Canada by 14 goals at 16:00 today if they are to finish top of Pool B.
Coming up, England take on New Zealand in the cricket at 18:00 and the same nations meet later on in the netball at 21:30!
You will not want to miss the diving as England’s Jack Laugher attempts to defend his 2018 title at 20:15!
It is a quieter evening in the athletics with five gold medals up for grabs! The men’s 110m hurdles will be one to watch with England’s Andrew Pozzi and Josh Seller competing.
Geraint Thomas finishes in third!
He just couldn’t pip Fred Wright’s – who, remember, went in the first wave – time.
So the podium looks like this…
GOLD – Rohan Dennis
SILVER – Fred Wright
BRONZE – Geraint Thomas
It’s a case of what might have been for the Welshman – would he have won gold without the tumble at the start? We cannot be sure but there’s a good chance he would have made up the 28 seconds he finished behind Dennis if he had stayed upright early on.
DISASTER FOR THOMAS!
He’s only just started but his charge could be over already…
It must have been on turn five or six (it was that early on…), the Welshman attacked the turn too quickly and although he nearly stayed up right he went down. It took a few seconds to sort it out and that’s probably lost him at least 30 seconds…
That’s the worst possible start.
Jack Laugher ends the preliminaries in fourth
This really was a practise for all the divers in the 1m springboard with all of them making the final later today. The scores this morning won’t carry through to the final.
Defending champion Laugher was in fourth behind Australia’s Shixin Li, Scotland’s James Heatly and England’s Jordan Houlden.
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At the end of the first wave in the men’s time trial
Fred Wright leads after posting a time of 46 mins 47.52secs. Lucas Plapp of Australia is second two minuates back with Wales’ Owain Doull third.
Chris Boardman on BBC comms reckons Wright could well end up with a medal. He now has an anxious wait to see if Boardman is right. The second wave of riders starts at 2 with former Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas of Wales getting his title bid under way at 2.29.
In the diving
The men’s 1m springboard preliminary round has just got under way. England’s reigning champion Jack Laugher will be sixth to go. Scotland’s James Heatly nabbed the bronze four years ago and is joined by compatriots Ross Beattie and Danny Mabbott . Jordan Houlden also goes for England.
Laugher won three titles at the World Championships earlier this year and is favourite to get the title once again.
Tom Cary with a great story from the men’s time trial
I‘m here at the time trial in West Park, Wolverhampton, where England’s Anna Henderson earlier took silver in the women’s event. Everyone is now waiting for Geraint Thomas in the men’s TT. The Welshman, fresh from finishing third overall at the Tour de France, is last off at 14:29. But there’s a great story already out on the road. The first rider who went down the start ramp a little earlier on, Chris Symonds, is a 48 year-old Ghaniain who has worked as a doorkeeper at the House of Commons for the last 20 years. He’s had an interesting athletic career. Symonds, whose father is English and whose mother hails from the West African nation, competed at the 2006 Commonwealths in Melbourne in triathlon, then switched to the time trial for Delhi 2010. At last year’s world time trial championships in Flanders he finished last, 18 minutes behind the winner Filippo Ganna. But in his defence he was the oldest rider ever to compete at the worlds and paid £800 out of his own pocket to be there.
Disaster for Lucas Plapp in the time trial
The Australian has to change bike (I think because he jammed the chain, at least that’s what the legend Chris Boardman on BBC comms reckons…) and it’s a veeeerrrrrrrrry sllllloooowwww change – he had lost a bit of time to Fred Wright but was still well in contention BUT that sorry change has all but ended his medal push.
England thrash Wales in the women’s hockey
A hat-trick from Grace Balsdon helped the hosts register an easy win over the Home Nations rival.
That result means England qualify from top of Pool A, ahead of India. they will face New Zealand in the last four. The Indians play Australia in the other semi-final.
Adam Gemili speaks…
On the win…
“I’m happy to get through. The aim was to just make the next round and get to the semis tomorrow.”
On experience at championships…
“It’s all about experience. Regardless of form, fitness it comes back to experience. For me I’ve done this lots of times and I drew on that.”
On running in front of a home crowd…
“It’s ridiculous! It’s a morning session and it’s a full stadium why are we not having more events in the UK? The support [of this crowd] is humbling.”
The latest in the men’s 200m heats
All the big names are through so far…
Fourth heat – Trinidad and Tobago’s Jareem Richards wins easily in 20.68 secs with Sibusiso of Eswatini taking the other qualification spot in second.
Fifth heat – Ghana’s Joseph Paul Amoah and Kyle Greaux of Trinidad and Tobago eased through.
There are three heats left.
Zharnel Hughes speaks…
On the win…
“I am enjoying myself, this is my event and the crowd is amazing they gave me the energy I needed.”
On getting over his World Championships disappointment…
“What happened in Oregon is behind me now – this is my home crowd and there is a lot more there…I need to trust my speed endurance and do what I have to do.”
Jake Wightman wins in 3mins 48.334 secs
It was a slow second heat and so the world champion knew he had to finish in the top five to make Saturday’s final.
Joining him in the battle for gold will be England’s Matt Stonier, Abel Kipsang of Kenya, Scotland’s Neil Gourley and New Zealand’s Samuel Tanner.
Josh Kerr is about to go in the first heat
Of the men’s 1,500. He didn’t make it out of the semis in last month’s World Championships, can he do well here?
The Tokyo bronze medallist in in a tough (ish) race with Elliot Giles going for England and Heywood for Wales.
The first five of both heats go through with the next two quickest making it to Saturday’s final.
Grace Brown pushes Anna Henderson down to silver
The Englishwoman was leading but the Australian had led at every checkpoint and she, as expected, reeled in the home hope’s time to win in 40mins 5.20 secs.
Henderson took the silver 33.35 secs back, with Georgia Williams winning the bronze, 1min 20.07secs behind.
Elaine Thompson-Herah wins her 200m heat
It was effortless from the 100m champion who won in 22.80 secs. The Jamaican star lead home Scotland’s Beth Dobbin and Australia’s Jacinta Beecher.
In the Fourth heat Nigeria’s Favour Ofili won in 22.71 secs from Gambia’s Gina Bass and Malawi’s Asimenya Simwaka.
Lindon Victor finished just outside the medals
In the World Championships and he’s off to a good start here. He runs 10.76 (915 points) and looks strong in the defence of his title here.
Cedri Dubler is also a strong contender and the Australian is second.
Harry Kendall is down on his PB of 10.77 as he runs 11.25 (806 points).
The women’s time trial
So with the women’s cycling time trial about to begin here’s all you need to know.
- Course distance is 29km
- It takes place in Wolverhampton
- There are 36 competitors with one minute gaps between each start
- Australia’s Grace Brown is one of the favourites, along with Scotland’s Neah Evans and the Isle of Man’s Lizzie Holden
- Abi Smith, Anna Henderson and Joscelin Lowden go for England
- Anna Morris, Elynor Backstedt and Leah Dixon will be Wales’ participants
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AP
Here are some early highlights today
- In the cycling Women’s road time trial from 10am
- Wales’ Geraint Thomas going for gold in men’s time trial just gone midday
- England take on Wales in the hockey from 11am
- On the track Scotland’s 1,500m world champion Jake Wightman and Josh Kerr go in the heats from 11.25
- And the diving gets underway with England’s Jack Laugher in the 1m springboard qualifying just after 1.
Hosts on a high in Birmingham
Day seven begins with the hosts on a high. Wednesday saw an England medal rush with the judo team weighing in with success, Emily Campbell adding to her Olympic weightlifting silver with gold in Birmingham and Katarina Johnson-Thompson defending her heptathlon title.
But perhaps the highlight of the day was seeing Scotland’s Eilish McColgan emulate her mother’s 1986 win as she held off the challenge of Kenya’s Irene Cheptai down the home straight to win 10,000m gold.
After winning her first heptathlon for four years KJT later revealed she had also been battling the heartache of losing her grandma Mary last week.
“She unfortunately passed away a couple of days after [the World Championships], so it’s been a tough week,” said a teary Johnson-Thompson. “I’m just happy to get through it. It’s been particularly hard because the last home champs at Glasgow Indoors [in 2019] she was here, so it was quite hard not to see her face in the crowd.”
On her career-extending win she added: “It feels amazing, this competition has served me so well and I got my first gold here and that kick started my career back then. I’ve had a tough couple of years, hopefully this is the start of my next new career!
“It has been hard, I have had moments where I didn’t know if I wanted to carry on. To come out here and just get through it and actually get the gold, I have proved to myself that pushing through was worth it.”
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SHUTTERSTOCK
For McColgan the win, in front of her mum, the 1991 world champion and double commonwealth gold medallist Liz, the victory was all the more remarkable as she had seven weeks out suffering from Covid along with other injuries in the run up to last month’s World Championships where she finished 10th.
“It has just been an up and down year with Covid, another illness, a couple of niggles at the wrong time,” she said. “But I knew the fitness was in me. I couldn’t have asked for more.”
Today sees more action on the track with the men’s decathlon getting under way, the men’s 1,500m heats and the men’s and women’s 200m heats.
The roads of Birmingham will be closed with the men’s and women’s individual time trials taking place and there is host of other action including hockey, cricket and lawn bowls.
Stay here for all the action.
Source: telegraph.co.uk