#GC2018 Day Eight: Clarke Sets Records on the Track

Published On: 12 April 2018

Day eight of Gold Coast 2018 has brought great success for 15-year-old Rhiannon Clarke who claimed a silver medal on Commonwealth Games debut.

ATHLETICS

Rhiannon Clarke competed in the Women’s T38 100m Sprint final earlier tonight alongside fellow Western Australian Ella Pardy.

The youngster entered the event in a strong position having already achieved a season’s best of 13.68 seconds.

Not appearing to be intimidated by the size or prestige of the event Clarke put out a run to be very proud of.

Crossing the line in 13.17 seconds not only did she achieve a new personal best, she also set a new Australian record and won the silver medal.

Racing in the lane adjacent to Rhiannon, Ella Pardy also put out an impressive performance.

Finishing in fourth place Pardy crossed the line in 13.48 seconds to achieve a new season’s best.

Making her first appearance for the 2018 Commonwealth Games Brianna Beahan took to the track to compete in the preliminary round of the Women’s 100m Hurdles.

She finished in second place and a time of 13.02 seconds, a new personal best, which qualified her for a spot in tomorrow night’s final.

DIVING

Western Australian diver, Teju Williamson was a late addition to the Australiand diving team for this year’s Games replacing Taneka Kovchenko who was forced to retire from diving due to medical reasons.

After competing in the Women’s Synchronised 10m Platform yesterday Williamson returned to the pool today to compete in the individual 10m platform event.

At the conclusion of this morning’s qualification round Teju was in eighth place with 293.80 points, qualifying her for the final.

In a field of experienced international divers the young Western Australian proved that she had what it takes to mix it with the world’s best.

Unfortunately she was unable to replicate her performance from this morning finishing in 11th place with a total of 276.35 points.

The event was won by Teju’s synchronised 10m platform partner Melissa Wu who earned an impressive total of 360.40 points.

Tomorrow looks set to be jam packed full of action with Western Australians scheduled to compete in the athletics, boxing and men’s hockey.

  • Annika Lee-Jones