Brilliant bronze medals add to golden glory on day three at Birmingham 2022

The day three finals session started and ended with bronze medals for Team England, with golden glory in between.

The swimmers added a further four medals to their tally, taking the total to 13 so far in Birmingham.

James Guy opened Team England’s account with a bronze medal in the Men’s 200m Butterfly final.

The gold medals were won by an emotional Alice Tai as she laid claim to the Women’s 100m Backstroke S8 title, and an ‘overwhelmed’ James Wilby who earned the Men’s 100m Breaststroke crown.

Guy makes podium from outside lane

Guy lowered his qualifying time significantly on his way to winning bronze.

He only set the seventh fastest time heading into the final, but touched the wall in 1:56.77 out in lane one.

His teammates Mason Wilby and Jay Lelliott finished in sixth and seventh place respectively.

Guy was beaten to the wall by New Zealand’s Lewis Clareburt who took gold, followed by Chad le Clos of South Africa.

On clinching the bronze medal, Guy said: “I knew it was going to be hard.

“I swam in the worlds [world championships] a few weeks ago and what I have realised at this meet is that the times are not that fast.

“It is how you race it, so to get on the podium from an outside lane is always good fun.”

After taking his second medal of the Games so far, and his first individually, in front of a home crowd he added: “It is really weird actually; the crowd is cheering just for you.

“In Budapest it was completely different – they really spurred me on in that last 25m.”

Relay team take bronze

In the Women’s 4x200m Freestyle relay final, Team England’s Freya Colbert, Tamryn Van Selm, Abbie Wood and Freya Anderson teamed up to secure bronze.

The quartet were the third fastest team heading into the final and claimed their deserved place on the podium after a time of 7:57.11.

England were in fourth position before Wood joined the action in the third leg and she instantly closed the gap on the South African team.

At the 550m mark, she improved the team’s standing and then handed over to Anderson for the anchor leg.

The Bath National Centre swimmer was hunting down the Canadian team but wasn’t able to catch the eventual silver medallists.

Australia were the stand-out team as they set a new world record time to win gold.

Personal best for Cox

Lauren Cox set yet another new personal best time at this year’s Commonwealth Games.

She featured in the Women’s 100m Backstroke final on day three, having already set new personal bests in the heats and semi-finals.

Her time of 1:00.17 bettered her previous best by 0.19 to take a solid fifth place finish.

Renshaw finishes fourth

Molly Renshaw says she hopes to ‘move things on again next season’ after finishing fourth in the Women’s 200m Breaststroke final.

The Team England swimmer lowered her qualifying time to finish in 2:24.00 but reveals ‘something isn’t quite clicking’ as she misses out on a medal.

She added: “It’s always annoying coming fourth. Someone has to come fourth, it’s a world class field out there.

“The time isn’t where I wanted to be but it’s about who went out there and performed the best and I wasn’t quite there today.

“I think this season as a whole has been a struggle, I wasn’t happy with my time at the world champs and I was hoping to come here and go a little bit faster.

“There’s definitely something not right but hopefully get back to the drawing board and move things on again next season.”

Renshaw described the atmosphere in the Sandwell Aquatics Centre as ‘unreal’, saying: “It was amazing.

“They [the crowd] have been so loud for every session and the support definitely helps and I definitely heard them down the last 50m. I’m really grateful to experience it.”

Hopkin and Hindley fifth and sixth

Anna Hopkin finished just under half a second outside of the podium places in the Women’s 50m Freestyle final.

She clocked a time of 24.83 in the ‘splash and dash’ for fifth place, followed by Isabella Hindley in sixth with a time of 25.25.

Hopkin said she enjoyed the race but wasn’t ‘super happy’ with her time.

She said: “Obviously the Aussies swim so fast and having three in the final it’s hard to break them up.

“I’m not super happy with the time but the atmosphere is incredible.

“I soaked it up and I enjoyed the race so it’s just about looking about what happened and what I can improve on the next time I race it – so I’m just being positive about it really.

“It [the crowd] was so loud. You just have to acknowledge it and wave to the crowd and let it lift you up.

“To know that that many people are cheering for me when they don’t even know me is pretty incredible.”

Dean and Whittle book final spots

Tom Dean and Jacob Whittle booked their places in the Men’s 100m Freestyle final after finishing second and fourth in the first semi-final.

Olympic champion Dean was the second quickest in 47.83 behind Australia’s Kyle Chambers, while Whittle’s time of 48.82 saw him touch in fourth.

Teammate Lewis Burras missed out on a place in the final after touching home in sixth.

It was a similar story in the Men’s 50m Backstroke semi-final as Joe Litchfield finished sixth in a time of 25.44.

That was only 0.12 seconds outside his personal best, which he set at the Edinburgh International Meet in March 2020.

It wasn’t enough to secure a place in tomorrow’s final as he finished ninth overall, although he will be the first reserve.