Team England swimmers equal best-ever Commonwealth Games medal tally

Team England’s swimmers have matched their best-ever Commonwealth Games medal tally after winning a total of 32 medals in Birmingham.

In front of a roaring home crowd, the team have been presented with eight gold, 16 silver and eight bronze medals.

They finish second in the medal table for swimming and para-swimming, with only Australia earning more.

It equals the same number of medals won at the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games – the last time the competition was held on home soil.

The sixth and final day of swimming at this year’s event saw Team England win two golds, three silvers and three bronze medals.

Ben Proud retained his 50m Freestyle Commonwealth crown to take the opening gold, with the Men’s 4x100m Medley relay team taking gold in dramatic fashion in the penultimate race.

Dean just misses out on individual gold

Tom Dean was just 0.13 off rival Duncan Scott as he missed out on individual gold in the Men’s 200m Individual Medley final.

The Team England swimmer had to settle for silver, his sixth of the games, as his Scottish friend and Great Britain teammate took the title, setting a new Commonwealth Games record.

Dean finished incredibly quickly as he fought back from seventh at the halfway stage to charge through the pack and come within inches of the gold medal.

Scott set a time of 1:56.88 to set the record with Dean just behind as he had to concede the top spot on the podium.

It was still an incredible performance from British National Performance Centre swimmer who stunned the crowd with his comeback swim.

He set a time of 1:57.01 as he took home the silver.

On his performance Dean said: “My sixth silver of the Games. I was telling all the officials, it’s like silver season at the moment.

“I can’t seem to get away from that man (Scott) out there.

“It was really special. I’m happy with the time, getting down to those low 1:57’s.

“A few more metres and I think I may have closed him down. I knew he would really want to come here to Birmingham and stamp his name as a Scot, but the racing is always tight.

“It’s incredible to have two Brits going head-to-head over and over again.”

James McFadzen also made the final and he swam well to finish seventh.

He set a time of 1:59.87 that was just under three seconds off the winner.

Silver and bronze for Applegate and Fiddes

There were two English swimmers on the podium in the Women’s 200m Freestyle S14 final as Jessica-Jane Applegate and Louise Fiddes earned their podium places.

Applegate was the first of the duo to touch the wall in a time of 2:08.56 which was just 1.54 behind the gold medallist, Northern Ireland’s Bethany Firth.

Fiddes took home bronze after stopping the clock in 2:11.22.

On how she felt on winning a silver medal, Applegate said: “I am a bit emotional because my best friend and my coach were here and I hadn’t seen them for so long.

“I have my mum in the crowd and the last time she came to watch me was 2014. It’s been a long time.

“It means a lot for this to finally happen [para-swimming integrated at the Commonwealth Games]. I campaigned a lot for this and it’s finally here.

“I have been competing for 10 years, so to get silver at the Commonwealth Games is just phenomenal.”

After her bronze medal win, Fiddes added: “This is definitely one of my favourites. To be in a home competition in front of family, it was amazing.

“I knew I was top three. Obviously I wanted to have snuck a silver but Jess [Applegate] was slightly too far ahead. She’s such an incredible athlete.”

Terrific Turley takes 1500m bronze

Luke Turley swam his heart out to take bronze in the Men’s 1500m Freestyle.

The Bath National Centre swimmer signed off his first games with an individual medal as he finished just ahead of England teammate Toby Robinson.

The English pair duelled for the bronze medal spot throughout the race with Robinson going out quickest.

Turley slowly closed down his teammate and took the final podium spot with 600m’s to go.

Robinson did everything he could in the final 100m’s to take back his medal place but Turley fought well to hold on.

Turley finished with a time 15:12.78 of just ahead of Robinson who set a 15:14.64.

On winning his first International medal Turley said: “It means a lot. It’s been a tough year for me.

“I’ve worked really hard to get here. So for me to go out, race the race and come out with a medal is an absolute dream.

“This is my first year swimming full time, my first year at a senior stage, so to come out of my first competition with a medal brings me so much confidence to keep going, keep pushing, all the way to Paris [2024 Olympic Games], because that’s the ultimate dream.”

Turley also took the time to credit his teammate Robinson in what was a close race between the two.

“Toby is a brilliant swimmer and such a nice guy.

“He’s a bit of an open water specialist so he’s really good at going the distance, so I knew he’d have the engine at the back end, so in the middle section I’d try to put as much distance between the two so that he wouldn’t catch me up as I was starting to struggle.”

Australia’s Sam Short took the gold with Northern Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen won silver.

More relay success as England’s Women’s take bronze

Team England’s Women’s 4x100m Medley relay team took bronze in the final swimming event of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The team of Lauren Cox, Molly Renshaw, Laura Stephens and Anna Hopkin followed on from the men’s gold in the previous race to finish off Team England’s medal haul.

England’s quartet were in a tight battle with South Africa for the bronze medal position throughout the race.

The two teams swapped positions on multiple occasions but it was Hopkin who managed to touch the wall just 0.19 ahead of the South African’s in the final leg to give England the medal.

England’s team finished with a total time of 3:59.44 in a strong swim from all four members of the squad.

After the race Renshaw said that all the hard work was worth the effort.

She said: “They definitely make it worth it. It’s such a gruelling sport to train for, and there are so many hours of hard work that go on behind the scenes.

“It’s nice to have a home Games. That’s something that you experience probably once in your career.

“It’s just really special, and we are all happy to bring down the curtain with that performance.”

Hopkin finished the race strongly to ensure England took their place on the podium and said how relieved she was when she saw the result.

Hopkin said: “I think we knew they (South Africa) were probably going to be our biggest competition, but I couldn’t really see them while I was swimming.

“I had to fully go for it and keep going, right to the wall, because I knew they would be right there.

“When I saw the third place next to our name, I was so relieved, because to get fourth on the final race would have been gutting.”

English trio narrowly miss out on medals

England’s Jordan Catchpole, Reece Dunn and Thomas Hamer all just fell short of getting on the podium in the Men’s 200m Freestyle S14.

Catchpole finished fourth and was just 0.22 off the bronze medal place with Dunn and Hamer just behind him in fifth and sixth.

The three swimmers put everything into their performance and were unfortunate to not come away with a medal.

Canada’s Nicholas Bennett took the gold in a time of 1:54.97 which set a new Commonwealth Games record.

Fourth for Cox as she sets a new personal best

Lauren Cox performed well to finish fourth in the Women’s 50m Backstroke final.

In her first Commonwealth Games Cox set a new personal best of a 27.61 as she was just 0.03 off the bronze medal place.

Cox put everything she had into the race but fell agonisingly short of a medal place despite her strong performance.

Canada’s Kylie Masse took the gold, setting a new Commonwealth Games record with a time of a 27.31.