Glasgow: England’s Jodie Stimpson won the opening gold of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Thursday on a day when the multi-sport event was hit by the withdrawal of athletics legend Mo Farah.
Stimpson, a silver medal winner in the World Triathlon Series in 2013, sprinted clear with 400 metres remaining of the final 10-km run to win a thrilling race that started with a 1.5-km swim in and a 40-km cycle around Strathclyde Loch.
Canada’s Kirsten Sweetland claimed silver, with England’s Vicky Holland taking bronze in warm, sunny conditions.
“I was nervous about the swim but I had an awesome swim actually,” said Stimpson. “The race was brutal and the bike was definitely a challenge. It was important to be aware and sensible. There were a couple of fishes there that I wanted to get away from.”
With a lap to go of the gruelling run, Stimpson was joined by Sweetland and fancied Australian Emma Jackson, who had done well to make up a 25-second deficit from the swimming, in a lead group of five.
Holland and New Zealander Andrea Hewitt, a bronze medallist in the 2006 Games in Melbourne, stayed in the mix as Northern Ireland’s Aileen Reid fell off the increasing pace.
As Stimpson ramped up for the final push, Hewitt and Holland struggled, and then Sweetland was left gasping for air as the English triathlete accelerated away for the line in brilliant sunshine.
“I was always gunning for a medal. Obviously I wanted gold but I am happy for anything,” said Sweetland.
“During the race I felt okay. I didn’t really feel bad but I didn’t feel great either. On the run I tried to stick on Jodie’s shoulder, which paid off.”
Triathlon is returning to the Commonwealth Games programme for the first time since Melbourne 2006, having made its debut at Manchester 2002.
Action got under way also in the pool where top home hope for a gold medal, Michael Jamieson was upstaged by countryman Ross Murdoch in qualifying for the 200 metres breaststroke final.
Murdoch smashed the Commonwealth Games record by over two seconds in a time of 2mins 08.78secs with Jamieson and Calum Tait completing an all-Scottish top three in qualifying.
“Watching the crowd go wild and I just wanted that for myself and we did it, so it is something that I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” said the 20-year-old Murdoch.
Scotland’s Hannah Miley also had the home crowd in raptures in the first heat of the event by breaking her own Commonwealth record in the women’s 400m individual medley in a time of 4mins 38.27 secs.
Commonwealth Games record times were tumbling all morning at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre as Jamaica’s Ali Atkinson went fastest in the women’s 50m breaststroke in a Games record time of 30.49secs.
The immediacy of the action took some of the sting out of Farah’s withdrawal, which rocked the Games just as they got under way.
The 5,000 and 10,000 metres Olympic champion, 31, was recently laid low by illness and has decided to pull out of the Games in order to work on his fitness ahead of next month’s European Championships in Zurich.
WIGGINS MARKS RETURN
As well as four in the pool, there were four up for grabs on the first day of track cycling at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome with Bradley Wiggins, returning to track cycling for the first time since 2008, helped inspire England to the final of the men’s 4000m Team Pursuit.
England were set to battle it out with fierce rivals Australia, who set the fastest time in qualifying, for the chance to claim gold.
Wiggins, competing in his first Commonwealth Games since Manchester 2002, was looking for his first ever gold medal at the Games to go with his Tour de France and four Olympic titles.
Canada and New Zealand will face up to each other in the bronze-medal event.
England’s Jason Kenny, the current Olympic sprint champion, scraped into the quarter-finals of the men’s sprint after claiming a place through a first round repechage along with compatriot Matthew Crampton.
They will join New Zealand trio Sam Webster, Matthew Archibald and Eddie Dawkins, Australians Matthew Glaetzer and Peter Lewis and Malaysian Mohd Awang in Friday’s quarter-finals.
English rider Philip Hindes, who was part of the Great Britain team that claimed team sprint gold in London 2012, failed to qualify after finishing last in his first round repechage.
The Brownlee brothers, Alistair and Jonathan, were betting on an intense sibling rivalry in their drive for a top-of-the-podium finish in the men’s triathlon.
Alistair Brownlee was out to add Commonwealth gold to his Olympic gold won in London in 2012, with triumphs in the World Triathlon Series in 2011 and 2013 sandwiching that victory.
Indian lifters were expected to be at the forefront on the first day’s action in the weightlifting.
There are also five titles to be decided in judo and one in rhythmic gymnastics while preliminaries begin in field hockey, lawn bowls, netball, squash, table tennis and badminton.
