Pool stars Tancock and Halsall start English gold rush
SWIMMERS Liam Tancock and Fran Halsall secured England’s first gold medals of the
Commonwealth Games on a day of further success in the pool in Delhi.
World champion Tancock won the men’s 50m backstroke after Halsall had upset the
odds to snatch the women’s 50m butterfly.
England’s Kate Haywood won bronze in the 50m breastroke, while Robbie Renwick claimed a first gold for Scotland in the 200m freestyle.
Away from the pool, England’s Terrence Bosson took silver in the 60kg Greco-Roman wrestling, losing the final to India’s Ravinder Singh.
Tancock, who also has 100m backstroke aspirations, set a new Games record of 24.62 seconds as he comfortably won over the shorter distance.
“It’s a great start to the meet for us, a couple of golds,” said the Devon swimmer. “It felt
pretty good but it didn’t feel amazing. I gave it my best, though, and stroked on through
to the win.”
Halsall just pipped Australian world champion Marieke Guehrer in a race in which the top three were separated by just 0.05 seconds.
“When I saw I’d won I thought, ‘That was cheeky’,” said the 20-year-old. “I enjoy being the underdog and when there are people better than me to take down, that’s incentive to take it one step further.”