TOM Hamer promised to put on a show on the opening evening of the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast and he did not disappoint as he romped to gold and a first world record in the pool.
The 19-year-old from Burnley took it easy in the heats as he qualified fourth fastest for the final of the S14 200m freestyle.
But after playing it safe on the first length in the final, he stretched away from the field and broke his own world record to cruise home in 1min 55.18secs in front of a 10,000-strong sell-out crowd.
He said: “It’s incredible (to have the first world record), I’m really happy with that. It means the world to win gold, I got silver in 2014, so it’s amazing to see four years on how much I’ve progressed.
“It’s incredible here, just in the call-up room, I took my headphones off and listening to the crowd was incredible. I was thinking to myself that Rio was incredible but this is 10 times better.
“As soon as an Aussie is in a race, the roof lifts off. It’s good to swim against some Aussies because you get that extra support.
“I’ve got some family here as well so it’s nice to have that home support.”
On a dream first night for England in the pool with four gold medals, Anna Hopkin was part of the women’s 4x100m relay team that took bronze, capping a perfect start to her Commonwealth debut.
Hopkin (below, second right) produced the fastest split of the quartet, clocking a time of 53.82secs, to take bronze alongside Siobhan-Marie O’Connor, Freya Anderson and Ellie Faulkner.
And the Chorley swimmer was thrilled at how the evening had gone.
She said: “It was really exciting. It’s my first Commonwealth Games so I just wanted to make the most of it. Obviously being in this crowd, with Australia as favourites, they were going mad. I think it brought out the best in me. The team has been amazing and I’m just really happy to get a medal.”
Laura Massaro kicked off her quest for an elusive gold medal in the squash after beating Amanda Haywood of Barbados 3-0 in the opening round.
The Chorley ace plays New Zealand’s Amanda Landers-Murphy in the second round this morning.
She said: “It was good, it’s a bit of a weird one first round because I’d never seen Amanda play before, so all I knew was that she’d won earlier and it takes a bit a time to get used to those courts as well.”
Darwen’s Niamh Robinson, representing the Isle of Man, got her Games under way after finishing in seventh place in her heat in the 50m breaststroke.
The 18-year-old swims again tomorrow in the 200m breaststroke heats.
npower is the Official Partner of Team England and is giving our athletes the power of support by recording a brand new version of their anthem, Jerusalem. To listen to the track visit npower.com/teamengland
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