Jamaican Kemar Bailey-Cole and Nigerian Blessing Okagbare were the stars on the second night by emerging the fastest man and woman of the Commonwealth at Hampden Park on Monday.
Bailey-Cole touched a season best, running a superb race, as he crossed the finish line in 10.00s to maintain Jamaica’s continued superiority in the sprints and then jumped with joy on winning his first major individual title.
Adam Gemili (England) who made the fastest start had to make way for his Jamaican rival as Bailey-Cole gained control midway through and found his way ahead of the pack in style.
Gemili, however, came in second at 10.10s warding off the threat of Nickel Ashmeade, also of Jamaica, for his first senior medal. Ashmeade was in third at 10.12s.
Bailey-Cole was a member of the gold medal-winning Jamaican 4x100m relay team at both the 2012 London Olympics and the 2013 World Championships.
Jamaica had another gold medal added to its kitty as Richards O’Dayne buried the field in the men’s shot put with a distance of 21.61m, off his opening effort and to push favourite New Zealand’s Tim Walsh (21.19m) to the second spot. Time Nedow (Cananda) took the bronze with a heave of 20.59m.
Okagbare, who is participating in three other events — the 200m, long jump and 400m relay — clearly put the Jamaicans on notice as she dashed home in a Games record of 10.85s to take the women’s 100m gold medal.
The Nigerian girl, with a flowing mane, had already run a season’s best of 10.93s in the third semifinal of the event.
And in the final after getting to her stride early on, she was on her way home all by herself, leaving the seasoned Veronica Campbell-Brown and her Jamaican compatriot Kerron Stewart in her wake.
Sultana retains gold
In hammer throw, Frizell Sultana (Canada) found a new Games record distance of 71.97m as she successfully defended her gold medal of New Delhi 2010.
Julia Ratcliffe gave New Zealand a second silver medal as she finished second with a distance of 69.96, placing herself clearly ahead of former world junior champion Sophie Hitchon (England) who claimed bronze with 68.72m.
In decathlon, Damian Warner (Canada) finished the day with 4378 points to lead a field of 16 athletes after five events.
Among the Indians, hurdlers Siddhanth Thingalaya and Ashwini Akkunji failed to come up with a good show.
Figuring in the heats of the men’s 110m hurdles, 23-year-old Thingalaya finished third at 13.93s, which led to his elimination. He was placed 12th in the overall rankings.
It was no different in Ashwini’s case too as she finished a poor fifth in the second heat of the women’s 400m hurdles, clocking 58.75.
Om Prakash sixth
Late on Monday, Om Prakash Singh had finished sixth in the men’s shot put final. The Indian hardly made an impression as his best was only a 18.73m (second throw).
The 27-year-old, who began with an effort of 18.44m, had a card of 17.08m, 18.26m, 16.95m and 18.33m, through the remaining four throws.
M.R. Poovamma was comprehensively beaten in the women’s 400m semifinals. She finished fifth in the third heat with a 52.88s effort.
