Delhi2010 – Gold for WAIS Athlete Scott Sunderland

Scott Sunderland has become the first Western Australian Institute of Sport athlete to win a gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi after winning the men’s 1000m time trial this afternoon.

The Adelaide based AIS-WAIS athlete set a new Commonwealth Games record in Delhi with a time of 1:01.411mins to win Australia’s second gold medal on the track – following on from Anna Meares’ success in the women’s 500m time trial, just an hour earlier.

Sunderland had to wait through 12 other riders before producing a powerful effort last up to tear more than a second off Malaysian silver medallist Mohd Rizal Tisin’s time.

The gold medal ride was made even sweeter after Sunderland broke the Commonwealth Games record of Scotland great Sir Chris Hoy.

Sunderland will now head into the men’s sprint and team sprint with confidence having added a Commonwealth championship to his world junior championship that he won in 2006.

Day one of action from the velodrome was a highly successful one for Australia, with Jack Bobridge progressing to the gold medal race in the men’s 4km pursuit and Michael Hepburn qualifying for the bronze medal race, with both riders facing New Zealand counterparts for medals.