GOLD COAST, Australia, April 8, 2018, (News agencies) - Yohan Blake wants to add a Commonwealth Games title to his collection from the Olympics and world championships as Scotland's Duncan Scott upset Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers with a late surge to win the men's 100m freestyle title. Considering Usain Bolt is the only person who has ever run faster times in the 100 meters, Blake is a good chance. The Jamaican star kicked off his Gold Coast 2018 campaign by qualifying fastest for the final after winning his semifinal heat in 10.06 seconds Sunday. That followed a 10.15 in his opening heat on the first afternoon of the track and field competition. "There's a lot more in the tank," Blake said. "Don't want to put too much thinking into it - just hold your head and get the job done because Usain told me, 'You've got to win, you've got to do your best or you can't go home.'" Kemar Hyman of the Cayman Islands was next in 10.10, followed by Adam Gimili of England in 10.11 and Akani Simbine of South Africa in 10.12. Blake, the 2011 world champion who has a personal best of 9.69 for the 100, said Bolt sent him a message earlier saying "I believe in you." England's Asha Philip led qualifiers into the women's 100 final by winning her semifinal heat in 11.21 seconds. She was 0.01 ahead of Jamaica's Christania Williams and 0.04 ahead of Michelle-Lee Ahye. Uganda got its first gold medal of the games when Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei won the 5,000 meters in 13 minutes, 50.83 seconds from Mohammed Ahmed of Canada and Kenya's Edward Pingua Zakayo. The first gold medal inside the track and field stadium went to England's Nick Miller, who broke a 12-year-old games record with a hammer throw of 80.26 meters. Australia's Matt Denny took silver with a personal best 74.88m and Mark Dry of Scotland produced a final throw of 73.12 to overtake Canada's Adam Keenan for bronze. The first gold medals in the athletics program were awarded in the 20-kilometer race walks, with Australia winning both the morning events. These were certainly no ordinary weekend walks along the beach. Jemima Montag won gold after race-leading Claire Tallent was disqualified with two kilometers to go. Tallent, who is married to 2012 Olympic race-walking champion Jared Tallent, burst into tears after being shown a third red card for a technical infringement. The 20-year-old Montag finished the Currumbin Beachfront course in 1 hour, 32 minutes and 50 seconds, with Alana Barber of New Zealand taking silver and Bethan Davies of Wales picking up the bronze. Montag said the disqualification was "heartbreaking" for Tallent. "It's not the way that I would have liked to win gold but when things like that happen, you have to stay in the moment and not lose focus," Montag said. Dane Bird-Smith set a games record 1:19.34 to win the men's race ahead of England's Tom Bosworth and Samuel Ireri Tathimba of Kenya. Scott upsets Chalmers Scotland's Duncan Scott upset Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers with a late surge to win the men's 100m freestyle title at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games on Sunday. Scott had been sixth at the turn for home but chased down a tiring Chad le Clos and just beat a surging Chalmers to the wall to touch in 48.02 seconds. South Africa's Le Clos and Chalmers, who had also won the 200m freestyle title and was a member of Australia's 4x100m freestyle gold medal-winning team, were tied for second in 48.15. Cameron McEvoy of Australia, who was the fastest qualifier, looked well placed to catch Le Clos but was swum out of the medals in the final few strokes and finished fourth. Sarah wins silver medal Sarah Davies of England won a Commonwealth Games silver medal in the women's -69kg weightlifting. The 25-year-old was in a four-way tie for bronze at the halfway stage after posting 95kg in the snatch. She went close with a personal best attempt of 128kg in the clean and jerk before finishing on 217kg, five off Punam Yadav of India, who won gold. Apolonia Vaivai of Fiji took bronze. Wales' Faye Pittman finished in 10th place with a total of 178kg. Northern Ireland's Rebekah Thompson posted 158kg to finish in 12th place. Davies was sixth in the -63kg category at last year's World Championships - the best result by a British weightlifter for 15 years - and finished seventh at the same weight at Glasgow 2014. But the former beauty queen moved up to heavier category on the Gold Coast as England's Zoe Smith competed at the -63kg weight - with both athletes seeing success. English pair Smith and and Jack Oliver won silver medals in the women's -63kg and men's -77kg category. And Gareth Evans won Wales' first gold medal of the Commonwealth Games with victory in the men's -69kg on day two. Islanders capture bronze They did it for themselves, their families and - most of all - their island. Norfolk Island, boasting just 18 athletes at these Commonwealth Games, won bronze in the lawn bowls men's triples competition Sunday and, fittingly, with some of their famous trees in the backdrop. It was just the second Commonwealth Games medal ever won by Norfolk, which boasts a population of less than 2,000 and just the one bowling rink. Ryan Dixon, Haydn Evans and Phillip Jones took a five-shot lead after the second end and were never headed by Canada to win 19-16. Watching from the stands was the island's only previous games medalist, Carmen Anderson, who won a bronze in the women's singles in 1994. Norfolk Islanders are proud of their unique culture and the lawn bowlers were chuffed to stand on a podium and watch the raising of their green and white flag that features the Norfolk Pine. Evans, a farmer and local actor on the island who plays the role of Fletcher Christian, is an eighth-generation Islander and a descendent of the Bounty mutineers who first settled on Pitcairn island and then moved to Norfolk. He speaks the island's native language, which is a mix of old English and Tahitian. Lead bowler Jones, a former teacher, drivers a taxi on the island, which happens to be a car formerly owned by the author Colleen McCullough. The three clearly bristle at their island being run out of the Australian capital, Canberra, under the status of an island territory. But the three - who are still involved in games competition - didn't really want to comment on that for now. High-profile international human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson is more than happy to discuss it. The Norfolk Island community has launched a legal challenge with the United Nations, alleging the Australian government has breached an international covenant on civil and political rights following the forced takeover of the island's governance. The island - which is about 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) east-northeast of Sydney and 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) north-northwest of Auckland, New Zealand - was first settled as a convict colony not long after the British settlers arrived in Australia in 1788. Robertson is running the case on behalf of the president of the Norfolk Island Council of Elders, Albert Buffett. The matter will now be investigated by the UN Human Rights Committee - part of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights - to examine whether the Australian government has breached the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Robertson said he was pleased that 18 Norfolk athletes were competing on the Gold Coast. He said the island had been granted "a large measure of self-government" by former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser in 1979, but that "was taken away for no good reason" in 2015. The Australian government-appointed administrator "closed down its Parliament, censored its radio station, and generally behaved like the original Colonel Bligh," Robertson said in comments e-mailed to The Associated Press. "The legal problem for Australia is that it purports to believe in democracy yet it took away the Islander's right to vote for their own parliament and imposed on them the laws of the New South Wales (state) Parliament, for which they cannot vote." The islanders can only vote in Australia's federal elections. Robertson said Australia should be proud of Norfolk Island as a world heritage area, and celebrate its difference rather than treat it as any other coastal town of New South Wales state. He said it was heartening that the Commonwealth Games recognized the right of Norfolk Islanders to compete under their own flag. The Norfolk team is one of 71 countries and territories competing at the April 4-15 games. "Any medal of any color is a huge deal for Norfolk Island ... it marks our identity and lets people know who we are. We have great culture ... we are so very proud," Evans said, indicating trees in the background. "We feel like we're at home - look around there's heaps of Norfolk Island pines. No one caught us tree hugging earlier today."
