Laura Muir surged into the women’s Commonwealth Games 1,500m final while at opposite ends of the age spectrum, there was golden glory for lawn bowler George Miller and teenage rhythmic gymnast Marfa Ekimova.
Here, the PA news agency reflects on Friday’s early action and looks forward to the highlights as we enter the final weekend of competition.
More from Muir
Laura Muir is eyeing an elusive Commonwealth medal after reaching her second final. The Scot finished fifth in her 1500m heat on Friday morning to reach Sunday’s final at the Alexander Stadium, running four minutes 14.11 seconds, having already reached Saturday’s 800m final.
Great Scot
Scotland’s George Miller became the oldest gold medallist in Commonwealth Games history after winning the para-bowls mixed pairs final at the age of 75.
Miller, who is lead director for partially-sighted team-mate Melanie Inness, succeeds his para-bowls team-mate, 72-year-old Rosemary Lenton, who briefly held the record after winning the women’s pairs title on Wednesday.
Magic Marfa
Fresh from helping the England team win their first rhythmic gymnastics medal since 2010 on Thursday, 17-year-old Marfa Ekimova produced a stunning set of performances to clinch the gold medal in the individual all-around event.
Ekimova, who was born in St Petersburg and moved to the UK at the age of two, produced superb routines on the four apparatus – hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon – to score 112.300 and edge Anna Sokolova of Cyprus into second place.
Social media moment
Canada made England work hard for every point on the badminton court.
Pic of the day
Saturday highlights
Netball rematch
England and Australia go head to head in their netball semi-final after the hosts thumped world champions New Zealand by 10 points to earn their place in the last four. Australia limped through to the knockout stages after a shock defeat to Jamaica, but Jess Thirlby is all too aware that the Australians – still smarting from their last-gasp loss on the Gold Coast – will be licking their wounds.
Tough test
England’s cricketers made an emphatic statement by trouncing New Zealand on Friday, chasing down a paltry 72 with 50 balls to spare in a seven-wicket win to finish atop their group. They have now won six successive T20s and confidence is steadily building but Harmanpreet Kaur’s India are likely to present a step-up in opposition. A final against Australia or New Zealand awaits the winners, with the losers having the consolation of going into the bronze medal match.
Ace Andrea
Fresh from her victory in the women’s 10-metre platform final – watched by her TV star father Fred – teenager Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix gets the chance to extend her dream Games debut in the women’s 10m sychro platform final on Saturday.
The 17-year-old delivered a first senior international victory on Thursday evening at Sandwell Aquatics Centre, finishing ahead of England’s team-mate Lois Toulson to top the leaderboard by a huge 20.20 points.
