GOLD COAST, Australia, April 5, 2018 - Aimee Willmott took gold for England in the women's 400m individual medley at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast. Scotland's Hannah Miley had to settle for silver behind Willmott, who powered through the final 50m to claim top spot. The 25-year-old from Middlesbrough took the first gold medal in the pool at the Games in a time of 4:34.90. "I'm over the moon," Willmott told the BBC. "If ever there's a time I had it in me, it was now. "It was a battle between me and Hannah, and the crowd loved it. Last time we raced in Glasgow I burnt my race out and just died, so this time I had to swim differently and swim my own race." Australia's Blair Evans took bronze behind Willmott and Miley. Meanwhile, Australia's track cyclists set the world record in the men's 4km team pursuit at the Gold Coast Commmonwealth Games on Thursday in claiming the gold in the final against England. Leigh Howard, Sam Welsford, Kelland O'Brien and Alex Porter finished in three minutes 49.804 seconds at the Anna Meares Velodrome in Brisbane, smashing the mark of 3:50.265 seconds set by team Great Britain at the Rio Olympics. South Africa's Henri Schoeman upstaged triathlon's all-conquering Brownlees with Commonwealth Games gold as the English brothers were left trailing on Thursday. Schoeman, third behind Alistair and Jonny Brownlee at the 2016 Olympics, seized control on the running leg to win it in 52min 31sec, seven seconds ahead of Australia's Jacob Birtwhistle. Scotland's Marc Austin took bronze while Jonny Brownlee dropped back to finish seventh and Alistair Brownlee, who had hip surgery last August, was 10th. In the women's event, world champion Flora Duffy claimed gold for tiny Bermuda and Canada's Joanna Brown took bronze just a month after breaking her shoulder in a bike crash. Duffy, the 2016 and 2017 world title-winner, stormed to victory in 56:50 to end Bermuda's 20-year Games medal drought and become the islands' first female medallist. The 30-year-old, who will also compete in mountain biking, powered away on the 5km run to win by 43 seconds from England's Jessica Learmonth, with Brown coming in five seconds later. Nineteen gold medals are up for grabs on the opening day of the Games, which feature more than 4 000 athletes from 71 nations and territories. In a surprise development, A Commonwealth Games already blighted by high-profile withdrawals suffered a hammer blow on Thursday, when the hosts' top track champion Sally Pearson was forced to pull out with a serious Achilles injury. The 2012 Olympic champion Pearson, who won a second world title in the 100 metres hurdles at London last year, had been the face of the Gold Coast event, and far and away the top drawcard for athletics at Carrara Stadium. A long-time resident of the balmy tourist resort in northeastern Queensland state, the 31-year-old Pearson was front and centre in Wednesday's opening ceremony where a packed crowd roared her appearance as the final baton-bearer in the relay. Yet she performed the task with a heavy heart, having decided two days earlier to cancel her bid for a third consecutive Commonwealth gold in her pet event. "I had a big role to play in the opening ceremony which is why I waited until today to make the announcement," an emotional Pearson told reporters on Thursday. "I did everything I possibly could. I left no stone unturned to run in the 100m hurdles and the 4x100m relay. "Gutted. Absolutely gutted... There were a lot of tears flowing. "I guess you could call it grief. I was double and triple checking it was the right decision (to withdraw). Not being able to go out on that track and run for Australia is gut wrenching." Organisers will also feel the pinch, having lost Olympic and world 400m champion Wayde van Niekerk to injury in the leadup. The South African's withdrawal followed a number of snubs by the world's top athletes, including Kenyan Olympic 800m champion David Rudisha and Canada's triple Olympic sprint medallist Andre De Grasse. After her gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics, Pearson suffered through four injury-plagued years and stepped back from the brink of retirement before coaching herself to her second world title. She faces another long road back, confirming her season was over before it had began and that her injury could ultimately derail her longer term hopes of competing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Retirement, however, was "not an option".
