Australian John Steffensen is the favourite for the gold in the Men’s 400m final tonight.
Day seven of Games competition offers another exciting day for Athletics fans.
The Athletics competition at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) will feature six finals with medals to be won in the men’s 400m, women’s 3000m Steeplechase, men’s High Jump, men’s Long Jump, women’s Shot Put, and men’s Seated Discus Throw for Elite Athletes with a Disability (EAD).
In an action-packed day, there will also be heats for the men’s and women’s 200m, 800m, 400m Hurdles and men’s 200m EAD (T46). The women heptathletes will compete in Javelin and 800m, and the women’s Long Jump will commence.
Australians will want to watch for Jana Pittman in the women’s 400m Hurdles heats, Patrick Johnson and Ambrose Ezenwa both in the men’s 200m Heats, and Lauren Hewitt in the women’s 200m. Bronwyn Thompson is Australia’s hope in the Women’s Long Jump.
In the men’s 400m final tonight Australian John Steffensen is the favourite for the gold and possibly a Games record. Steffensen qualified fastest in the heats with 45.05 seconds, followed by Bahamas’s Christopher Brown and Jamaican Lansford Spence.
The first medal opportunity today will be in the men’s Seated Discus Throw EAD final.
India’s Ranjith Kumar Jayaseelan looks the clear favourite in terms of season-best throws, but is not as experienced as other competitors. Jayaseelan’s main rivals are Canada’s Jacques Martin and Australia’s Terence Giddy who are both very experienced.
The final of the men's High Jump is shaping up as a close contest between Manchester 2002 gold medallist, Canada’s Mark Boswell, with a season-best jump of 2m 29cm, and current South African champion Ramsay Carelse.
South African Khotso Mokoena is the overwhelming favourite in the men’s Long Jump final with a season best of 8.37m, although Athens Olympian Ignisious Gaisah from Ghana should not be overlooked. His season best is 8.34m and he also took the silver in the Long Jump at IAAF World Championships.
In the women’s 3000m Steeplechase final Uganda’s Dorcus Inzikuru is the hot favourite. The 24-year-old world number one, who is yet to compete at a Commonwealth Games, holds a season best time of 9 minutes 15.04 seconds and looks to have the edge over her main rivals, Kenya’s Esther Tuwei and Jamaica’s Madrea Hyman.
The women’s Shot Put final kicks off with 12 competitors, led by New Zealand’s Valerie Vili, vying for the gold medal. Vili boasts the highest personal best among all of the competitors with a throw of 20.30m. She will be looking to go one better after winning silver in the 2002 Manchester Games.
Singapore’s national record-holder Gui Zhang, 17-year-old Australia’s Dani Samuels and South African Simone Du Toit will be Vili’s main rivals.
For more results, visit the Athletics Schedule and Results section of this Website.
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