Samukonga, 19, who timed 44.66sec, exited the stadium in a wheelchair after tripping over a low promoting hoarding as he ran to gather his nationwide flag.
FILE: Muzala Samukonga within the males’s 400m closing, who flew from behind, accelerating down the ending straight and taking the win with a lifetime better of 44.66. Source: Twitter/@thecgf
BIRMINGHAM – Zambian teenager Muzala Samukonga received his nation’s first-ever Commonwealth Games 400m title on Sunday as Sada Williams gave Barbados their first gold within the girls’s occasion on the ultimate day of athletics in Birmingham.
Samukonga, 19, who timed 44.66sec, exited the stadium in a wheelchair after tripping over a low promoting hoarding as he ran to gather his nationwide flag.
England’s Matthew Hudson-Smith, who received bronze within the occasion eventually month’s world championships, was pressured to accept silver.
The 27-year-old had set his hopes on gold however was sanguine after admitting not too long ago that he had tried suicide final yr.
“It’s not the colour I wanted but you have to take the good with the bad,” he mentioned. “If you asked me a year ago would I be able to do this I would have said ‘no’.”
The English athlete, seeing Samukonga crying on the rostrum in the course of the medals ceremony, put his hand on his shoulder.
Williams outclassed Victoria Ohuruogu, who missed out on emulating her elder sister, 2008 Olympic gold medallist Christine, who received Commonwealth gold in 2006.
Williams, 24, who received bronze on the latest world championships, set a brand new Games report of 49.90sec, with Ohuruogu taking silver.
“It’s superb (to be a part of the Barbados group),” said Williams. “I’m so pleased with Jonathan (Jones who received bronze within the males’s 400m).
“I can’t begin to imagine (the reaction back home). Everybody’s probably going crazy right now.”
India additionally celebrated a historic gold, which provides gloss to a extremely profitable athletics competitors for them in Birmingham.
Eldhose Paul hopped, skipped and jumped into Indian athletics folklore as he delivered their first triple bounce title with a finest mark of 17.03 metres whereas team-mate Abdulla Aboobacker Narangolintevida received silver.
India additionally received bronze within the males’s 10,000m stroll. Sandeep Kumar completed third behind Canada’s Evan Dunfee (38min 36.37sec).
“The sporting culture in India is changing,” mentioned the triumphant Paul, who added that athletes had been getting extra assist from sports activities authorities within the nation.
REALLY UPSET
Australia took gold within the girls’s javelin.
Recently topped world champion Kelsey-Lee Barber received along with her closing throw (64.43m), dashing the goals of her compatriot Mackenzie Little, with India Annu Rani taking bronze.
World champion and world report holder Tobi Amusan received the ladies’s 100m hurdles, breaking a 16-year-old Games report as she timed 12.30sec.
The 25-year-old defending champion was trailing behind Jamaica’s Olympic bronze medallist Megan Tapper however the Nigerian powered previous her to ease residence.
“To get the win and defend my title means everything to me,” mentioned Amusan, who added even her father had accepted she made the fitting determination in specializing in her athletics.
“I was more into doing track,” she mentioned. “He got really upset in the end. But he is an amazing man. He is proud of me.”
Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas took silver and England’s Cindy Sember received bronze whereas Tapper and her compatriot, 2015 world champion Danielle Williams, missed out on medals
The England 4x100m relay groups gave the house crowds one thing to cheer, successful the boys’s race and ending second behind Nigeria within the girls’s occasion.
Scotland’s Eilish McColgan shall be looking for so as to add 5,000m gold to her 10,000 title within the closing session on Sunday night.
Her team-mate, Laura Muir, bids to win gold in her favorite 1,500m occasion after taking bronze in Saturday’s 800m.
