by Mike Rowbottom

womens_gym_cyg_11-09-11September 9 - England's team at the Commonwealth Youth Games in the Isle of Man go into today's programme confident in the knowledge they are right up on Australia's shoulder in the overall medals table, having won seven golds on the opening day.


Two team gold medals in gymnastics were the highlights of a medal-rich day as England athletes also topped the podium in athletics, swimming and road cycling.

England claimed their first gold when Abi Caig, Rebecca Tunney and Charlie Fellows (pictured) won the women's gymnastics team competition, relegating favourites Australia into third place.

England finished with 159.750 points, with Wales taking silver with 156.000 and Australia bronze with 148.850.

Tunney and Caig train at the same City of Liverpool club as multiple world champion Beth Tweddle, herself a former Commonwealth Youth gold medallist.

They secured victory on the beam when all three produced assured performances, including a beautifully executed double spin from Tunney.

"It was quite hard going first as you have to set the standard," said Fellows, aged 14, from Sandbach, a late replacement on the team for the injured Gabrielle Jupp.

"I was a bit nervous beforehand, but, once I started, I was fine."

"It's great to win England's first gold medal," said Caig, from Liverpool.

"I really enjoy the beam, but I was still nervous as I knew I had to have a clean performance.

Thankfully, I managed to hold it together."

Coach Clare Duffy said: "They were expected to do well and that means a lot of pressure.

"We've still got work to do, so we need to keep our heads down before we can celebrate.

They've got a long way to go before they reach the Olympic Games, but it is a great experience for them to win a gold medal here."

Tunney finished top of the individual standings with 54.650, while Caig was second with 53.300, so both went through to the overall individual competition.

Within an hour, Dominick Cunningham, Brinn Bevan and Jay Thompson had added a second gold in the men's team competition after holding off a late challenge from Canada.

England led by just 10 points with one exercise to go, but a great routine by Cunningham on the pommel helped to see them home with 238.700 to Canada's 229.150. Australia finished third.

Cunningham, from Birmingham, qualified first for the individual all-around competition with a total of 82.850, as Thompson, from Paignton, finished second.

"We knew we could come quite high, but we didn't know we could win," he said.

"There was a lot of pressure at the end."

There was another surprise team gold for England's women when Hannah Barnes' victory in a wind-swept and sea-misty cycling time trial, along the Douglas promenade, helped to launch England to the top of the team podium again.

Barnes beat Australia's Jess Allen by 17 seconds to take the individual gold, while Lucy Garner's sixth place and Harriet Owen's eighth place secured the team honours.

"There was a tail wind going out, which I don't like," said Barnes, the national junior champion from Towcester.

"There was one corner where the wind nearly took the wheels from under me and it took all my strength to keep the bike upright.

"After our training camp here, I didn't think I was going to do very well, but this is my strongest event and I thought if I was going to win a gold it would be today.

"It's great to win team gold, too - we are all sharing a room here and were all together when we got the phone call to tell us we had won the team gold as well."

England then added a team silver, behind Australia, in the men's event thanks to Jon Dibben's individual bronze, plus seventh and 12th place finishes for Sam Lowe and Matthew Holmes.

In the pool, England won two golds, two silvers and a bronze, including a one-two in the women's 200 metre backstroke for Georgia-Mae Hohmann and Phoebe Lenderyou.

Matching each other stroke for stroke, the two touched virtually together at the final turn, but Hohmann produced the stronger finish to claim gold in 2:07.73 to Lenderyou's 2:08.05.

"We helped each other, really," said Hohmann afterwards.

"We actually said to each before, 'Let's go for joint first'."

Hohmann was disappointed to finish fifth in this event at the recent World Youth Games, but the 17-year-old trains with Rebecca Adlington in Nottingham and some sage advice from the double Olympic champion helped her to overcome her usual pre-race nerves.

"Becky told me that I've worked so hard, I need to just do what I do in training.

"She's very supportive."

matt_johnson_cyg_11-09-11
Matt Johnson (pictured centre) had claimed England's first swimming gold an hour earlier, the Liversedge athlete taking three seconds off his PB to beat Australia's Eugene Tee in the 400m individual medley.

Sophie Smith had got England off to a good start when she claimed a bronze medal in the first event of the session, the women's 100m freestyle, behind Australia pair Ami Matsuo and Kotuku Ngawati.

"I knew they were going to be tough to beat, but I'm chuffed to get a medal and a really big PB," said the Leicester swimmer, who clocked 55.78sec.

Smith and Lenderyou picked up their second medals of the evening in the day's penultimate event when they helped England to finish second in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay.

Sprinter Sophie Papps was England's star on the track, the European Youth Olympic champion adding Commonwealth Youth gold over 100m with a dominant display.

If it was not for a marginal headwind, Papps' winning time of 11.53 would have been a huge personal best for the Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow athlete.

There was almost a second gold for England in the men's 100m when a fantastic start almost swept Chijindu Ujah to the line.

The Walthamstow sprinter looked like he would win until the final metres, when Antigua and Barbuda's Tahir Walsh passed him to take the victory in a wind-assisted 10.50 to Chijindu's 10.52. Leon Reid finished sixth in 10.72.

Elliot Safo won England's first athletics medal of the Games in an exciting men's long jump competition.

He jumped a wind-assisted best of 7.41 metres to take the lead in the third round, but it wasn't enough to hold off an impressive display by Australia's Angus Gould, who got lifetime bests in every round except the last, to win with a leap of 7.52m.

In the men's high jump, English Schools champion Michael Hartley jumped 1.90m to finish third, but was denied the bronze because only three athletes competed in the final, the only medal going to South Africa's Willem Van Schalkwyk.

All seven England boxers are guaranteed medals here after winning their quarter-final ties to make the semi-finals, while England's badminton players were also in winning form.

Team flag-bearer Rhys Walker led the way with two comfortable singles victories over Trinidad & Tobago's Jason Ramjas and India's Reneshan Naidoo.

Tom Wolfenden is also in the men's quarter-finals, while Emily Westwood is through to the last eight of the women's competition.

But Walker and Hollie Smith lost their mixed doubles round-of-16 match to India, England's only defeat of the day.

After the first day, England were second in the medals table with 14, eight behind Australia, having secured seven golds, five silvers and two bronzes.

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