Dame Sophie retains the golden touch

Dame Sophie Pascoe provided New Zealand with its third gold medal of the day when she fought hard to win the women’s S9 100m freestyle.

Pascoe won in 1min 02.95s, beating silver medallist Emily Beecroft by 0.79s. It was Pascoe’s fifth Commonwealth Games swimming gold medal.

She has had a difficult build-up to Birmingham, with the death of her beloved Nana and then catching Covid. The S9 100m freestyle will be her only event in Birmingham.

Backstroke specialist Tupou Neiufi was eighth in 1min 14.91s.

Afterwards an emotional Pascoe struggled to hold back the tears as she spoke of how she had wanted the gold for her Nana. “Nana was out there with me and that’s all that matters.”

She said she was proud to have overcome all the adversity in the lead-up to the Commonwealth Games.

“I’m not at my best physically and it really hurt over the last 10 metres, but I got the result I wanted. I was actually in fine form till I got Covid. That really hit me, but that’s the world we live in and you just have to take it on the chin.”

There was also a New Zealand medal at the pool for Jesse Reynolds, who was second in the men’s S9  100m backstroke final. Reynolds recorded a personal best 1min 03.65s, 1.77s behind the race winner Australian Timothy Hodge. In the same race another New Zealander, Joshua Willmer, was seventh in 1min 15.80s.

One of the outstanding New Zealand performances of the session was recorded by 18-year-old Dunedin swimmer Erika Fairweather, who was fifth in the women’s 200m final. Fairweather swam a personal best 1min 57.08s.

In the men’s 100m backstroke semi-finals, Andrew Jeffcoat swam right up to his best to record third fastest overall with 54.01s. Jeffcoat, who has just turned 23, is now a genuine medal contender in the event.

Mya Rasmussen was seventh in the women’s 400m individual medley final, recording 4min 41.81s, some distance behind Canadian teenage sensation Summer McIntosh, who won in 4min 29.01s.

Cameron Gray had another excellent swim in the men’s 50m butterfly semi-finals, and his time of 23.58s was good enough to rank him seventh overall and earn him a place in the final.

The other New Zealander in action was Helena Gasson, whose time of 59.39s in her women’s 100m butterfly semi-final placed her 12th overall, meaning she missed out on the final.