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Kate O’Connor cruised to heptathlon gold for Northern Ireland as Australia rounded off their best ever Commonwealth Games in the pool with nine more swimming gold medals on Wednesday for a total of 37.<\/em><\/p>\n O’Connor said she was “gutted” by her shot put effort on Tuesday in miserable wet conditions that put her quest for gold in danger.<\/p>\n But the 25-year-old was a class apart from the field to go one better than the silver she won in Birmingham four years ago and secure Northern Ireland’s first athletics Commonwealth gold since 1986.<\/p>\n \n England’s Jade O’Dowda claimed silver, while Australia’s Tori West won the battle for bronze.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fresh from setting a new world record in the mile earlier this month, Josh Kerr’s bid for gold in his homeland promises to be one of the events of the Games on Saturday night.<\/p>\n The two-time Olympic medallist at 1 500m cruised into the final, winning his heat on Wednesday morning despite easing off in the final stages to whip up the crowd.<\/p>\n “I want as much pressure on me as possible. I’m here to show up and get a gold medal for Scotland and hopefully we can put more people on the podium than just me,” said Kerr.<\/p>\n “I grew up dreaming of these championships and there’s a nostalgia of my parents driving me down here at 12 years old and me getting well beaten and then driving home eating a sandwich.”<\/p>\n Canada’s Sarah Mitton retained her shot put title from 2022, while Tajay Gayle of Jamaica won men’s long jump gold.<\/p>\n Faith Cherotich completed a Kenyan double in the 3,000m steeplechase.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n – Australia’s gold rush –<\/p>\n In the final night of swimming action, Australia rounded off an unprecedented level of domination over the course of the meet, winning 37 of the 57 events.<\/p>\n “It’s been awesome. Every year it feels like the Australian team reaches another level,” said 50m freestyle champion Cameron McEvoy after he added bronze in the 50m butterfly.<\/p>\n “I don’t see us slowing down anytime soon, so it’s really special to be part of it, and I’m just happy to keep riding the wave.”<\/p>\n Sam Short completed a treble of the long distance events in the pool by storming to victory in the 1,500m to add to his 400 and 800m golds.<\/p>\n Both Kyle Chalmers and Ben Armbruster walked away with gold in the men’s 50m butterfly with a tied time of 22.73 secs ahead of McEvoy in an Australia 1-2-3.<\/p>\n Kai Taylor won the 200m freestyle, Brittany Castelluzzo the women’s 200 butterfly and Meg Harris lead home another Aussie 1-2-3 in women’s 50m freestyle.<\/p>\n
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