GOLD COAST, Australia, April 10, 2018 (News agencies) - Australians Cameron Meyer and Katrin Garfoot won their time trial gold medals in Commonwealth Games road cycling on Tuesday. Melissa Lowther never had a chance in the women's race. Somebody didn't check the right boxes, so England cyclist Lowther was ruled out of the time trial hours before it began because of an administrative error. It meant Lowther wasn't formally entered for the race. Team England lost an appeal to have Lowther included. "While Team England has apologized, I'm still gutted not to have the opportunity to represent my country after all the hard miles I've put in," said the 21-year-old Lowther, who will still be eligible to compete in Saturday's road race. "I can't put into words how disappointed I am to have been missed off the start list due to an admin error." England's chef de mission Sarah Winckless apologized to Lowther and the cycling coaches. "Melissa has trained hard for and focused on this race and it should never be the case that an error on our part prevents an athlete showing what she can do," Winckless said. The Commonwealth Games Federation said there had been no chance of the decision being overturned. "The rules are very strict," CGF chief executive David Grevemberg said. "England has a very big team. These things happen." The 30-year-old Meyer took the men's gold over the 38.5-kilometer Currumbin course in 48 minutes, 13.04 seconds. He was 30.26 seconds ahead of England's Harry Tanfield and 32.41 clear of New Zealander Hamish Bond, who took bronze. Garfoot won the women's race by nearly 55 seconds over Linda Villumsen of New Zealand. Hayley Simmons of England won the bronze. Simbine upsets Blake Akani Simbine upstaged favourite Yohan Blake to win the 100 metres gold medal for South Africa at the Commonwealth Games Monday, ending Jamaica's reign over the sprint. With a heaving crowd at Carrara Stadium roaring, Rio Olympic finalist Simbine blazed away after Blake botched his start, and crossed the line in 10.03 seconds, leading a South African one-two with team mate Henricho Bruintjies. A stumbling Blake struggled for balance and by the time he regained it, the race was over, leaving him disappointed with the bronze and a time of 10.19. The third fastest man of all time, Blake topped qualifying with a time of 10.06 and had been warned jokingly by Bolt not to come home without gold in his luggage. "I was stumbling all the way," the 28-year-old told reporters ruefully. "I just didn't recover from it. It was a pretty easy race for me to win because I've been feeling good. "It was just never (going) to happen today, I don't know. I'm a bit disappointed because I've been feeling good, I've been running good." Bolt, who retired last year with eight Olympic golds including two 4x100 relay titles shared with Blake, tweeted his congratulations to his team mate and Simbine. "Well done @YohanBlake. Keep putting in the work. You know your journey," the sprint great said. The path to gold was made smoother for Simbine when England runner Adam Gemili, a 4x100m relay gold medallist at the London world championships, pulled out before the final with a thigh injury. Simbine's victory ended Jamaica's domination of the Commonwealth 100m dating back to the 2006 Games in Melbourne. "I wasn't focused on (Blake). I was just focused on myself and making sure I get to the 50 metres as quick as I can because I know if I put that together the rest of my race will come together," said the Pretoria 24-year-old. "Being able to run in lane eight and lane nine with Henricho and placing first and second with him, it's really amazing. And it's a big thing for South Africa sprinting and South African sports." Jamaica was also denied in the women's 100, with Trinidad and Tobago's Michelle-Lee Ahye taking the gold in 11.14, holding off Blake's team mate Christania Williams (11.21) and third-placed Gayon Evans. It was a better night for world and Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya, who kicked off her bid for a Commonwealth double with a comfortable win in the 1,500m heats in four minutes and 05.86 seconds. The South Africa flag-bearer, who will run in the 800, qualified fastest for Tuesday's final ahead of home runner Georgia Griffith (4:06.41) and Kenya's Mary Kuria. Even with the absence of Wayde van Niekerk and reigning champion Kirani James, the men's 400m boasts quality and looks to be a battle between Botswana's flamboyant Isaac Makwala and Grenada's Rio Olympic finalist Bralon Taplin. Makwala, who was barred from competing in the world championships' 400 final in London last year over illness fears, qualified fastest for the final with a time of 45.00 seconds. After crossing the line, the 31-year-old did two push-ups on the track and grinned at the TV camera. New Zealand's world champion Tomas Walsh threw 21.41 metres to take the shot put gold, going one better than his silver at Glasgow. Stella Chesang fought off Kenya's Stacy Ndiwa to take the 10,000m gold for Uganda and win her maiden Commonwealth medal. Titmus clinches freestyle gold Australia's Ariarne Titmus clinched her second individual gold medal of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games when she won the women's 400m freestyle on Tuesday. The 17-year-old, nicknamed 'Terminator', backed up her 800m triumph from a day earlier with a comfortable victory over English duo Holly Hibbott and Eleanor Faulkner. Titmus opened up an early lead and was never really challenged as she touched in four minutes, 00.93 seconds, the sixth-fastest 400m freestyle ever recorded. Hibbott was almost five seconds further back. Titmus, who had sought to become the first woman since fellow Australian Karen Moras in 1970 to win the 200-400-800 treble at the same Games, also won gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay and silver in the individual 200m freestyle. Canadian gymnasts collect 6 medals After collecting a six-pack of medals last Sunday, Canadian gymnasts won a silver and bronze on the final day of artistic competition at the Commonwealth Games late Monday. Montreal's Cory Patterson tied for second on the horizontal bar and 17-year-old Shallon Olsen of Surrey, B.C., claimed bronze in the women's floor exercise. There were plenty of near-misses on the day, however. Four Canadians finished fourth, including women's all-around champion Ellie Black in the floor. Canadian team officials challenged Black's score, saying one of her leaps was not recognized. But the so-called inquiry was rejected. "I thought it was a good routine but sometimes that happens and you don't get the score you're exactly looking for," the 22-year-old from Halifax said diplomatically. "But I was proud of that performance and ending up on a good note at these games." Black's performance was stylish and vibrant. But the judges found it lacking, apparently. "It's a judged sport," said Ian Moss, Gymnastics Canada's high performance director. "You have to take the good and the challenges at the same time." The games give Moss and his coaching crew a solid platform to build on, ahead of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. "Having an experience like this at a multisport games is really what's important for these athletes in the buildup through to the Olympic environment," he said. "Overall I'm really pleased." Added Black: "This is just the beginning of the next few years." Moss credited Black and Calgary's Brittany Rogers for their leadership at the games. And 16-year-old Jade Chrobok of Toronto stepped up after a late injury to Rose Woo. Canadian gymnasts won 11 medals (three gold, five silver and three bronze) here, compared to nine (3-3-3) four years ago in Glasgow. Warner's title defense ends Damian Warner's bid to defend his Commonwealth Games decathlon title ended when he failed to clear a height in the pole vault and dropped from first to sixth place after eight events. The Olympic bronze medalist missed all three attempts at 4.50 meters - well short of his personal best of 4.90 - and failed to add to his cumulative total of 6,297 points. Warner did not start in the javelin, the penultimate discipline in the 10-event competition. The 28-year-old Canadian started competition on the second day of the event with the leading time in the 110-meter hurdles at 13.89 seconds. He had the fourth-best mark in the discus with a throw of 46.55 meters. He started the decathlon competition on Monday with his season-best 10.29 seconds in the 100 and also threw a personal best 15:11 meters in the shot put and held a 129-point overnight lead over Canada teammate Pierce Lepage. Australia's Cedric Dubler, who moved into medal contention, said Warner's absence on the second night was a blow for the event. "Damian is an incredible athlete and has supported me for a few years now," Dubler said. "He's so involved and supportive of all the athletes - it's really tough to see him fall back." Tanfield grabs silver England's Harry Tanfield joined his brother Charlie as a Commonwealth Games medallist with silver in the men's individual time trial. Charlie Tanfield, 21, won gold in the individual pursuit and silver in the team pursuit in the velodrome last week. Brother Harry, 23, made it a fine week for the family on the Gold Coast, finishing 30 seconds behind winner Cameron Meyer of Australia. Hamish Bond of New Zealand took bronze. Bond, 32, is a double Olympic gold medallist in rowing but switched to cycling after the Rio Games in 2016. He described his first 12 months in the saddle as "stumbling around in the dark" but led the event for most of the day until Tanfield and Meyer came home. Gold for Meyer, 30, made amends for missing out on a medal in the track points race, in which he is a five-time world champion. Jersey's Dan Halksworth finished 26th as he became the first athlete to compete in three different sports at three different Games. The 32-year-old featured in swimming in 2006 and triathlon in Glasgow four years ago. Scotland's John Archibald - who won silver in the individual pursuit on the track behind Charlie Tanfield - came 11th after a painful-looking crash.
