Brent Newdick and Nikki Hamblin produced outstanding efforts to win Commonwealth Games silver medals in the track and field today.
Newdick slogged it out for two days and was rewarded with a silver in the decathlon, that most gruelling of events.
This was especially satisfying for Newdick, who finished in that most unwelcome of positions fourth in the same event in the 2006 games in Melbourne.
Hamblin ran a clever and brave race to take the silver medal in a hotly-contested 1500m race.
Newdick totalled 7915 points when competing in the world championships in Berlin last year. He showed how much he had improved when in Delhi he totalled 8091 decathletes love to top the magic 8000 barrier.
The 25-year-old Aucklander opened his campaign yesterday with a 100m in 11.07s (845 points), and backed that up with a long jump of 7.42m, the longest in the competition (915 points).
From then he always seemed destined to finish among the medals, and so it proved.
His shot put was 13.98m (727 points), followed by a high jump of 1.96m (767 points) and a 400m in 49.86m (821 points).
Into the second day, he negotiated the 110m hurdles in 14.79m (875 points) and heaved the discus 43.50m (736 points). In the pole vault he crucially managed to clear 4.80m on his final attempt to earn 849 points.
His best javelin throw of 56.94m was worth 692 points. It was a tired Newdick who bashed his way through the 1500m race in 4min 41.33s, for 672 points.
The New Zealander never threatened the decathlon winner, Jamie Adjetey-Nelson of Canada, who totalled 8239 points, but he was well clear of bronze medallist Martin Brockman of England, on 7712 points.
Hamblin ran outstandingly. She chased Olympic champion Nancy Langat of Kenya around the last lap and drew level with her at the top of the straight.
Langat had too much in reserve, but Hamblin was rewarded for her daring because even though she was running nearly on empty down the straight, she had built enough of a lead to hold off Scotswoman Stephanie Twell.
Langat won in 4min 05.26s, Hamblin was second with 4min 05.97s and Twell closed in for third in 4min 06.15s.
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