Commonwealth Games: Live coverage of Day 8 from Glasgow

Nina Kennedy spoke to Seven following her silver medal in Glasgow, with blustering conditions wreaking havoc on the pole vault final.

“If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry,” Kennedy said.

“So I’m trying to put on a happy face right now. Look, I’m disappointed, I wanted the gold.

“All the sprinters have been getting incredible conditions, so those incredible conditions is like terrible for us.

“I haven’t jumped that low in about four years, so I think that demonstrates how tough it is out there.”

Kennedy was bested by New Zealand’s Eliza McCartney for the top of the podium after failing to clear 4.70 - well below her PB.

“If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry. We’re not crying, we’re laughing,” Kennedy said.

“We both jumped the same height, I came second on countback. Eliza is a really good jumper, I think people forget that.

“Watching her win and watching her crying actually touched my cold heart a little bit.”

Kennedy said missing out on gold at this Games will fuel her as she turns her attention to the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

“I know I’m in really good shape and I didn’t show that out there today,” she said.

“I think that just shows I’m human and we all make mistakes and that’s OK.

“My family are still going to love me the same, my friends are still going to love me the same. They’re still proud of me, first, second or third, or no height. That’s what’s important.”

Not to be for Australia’s sprinters as she couldn’t find the surge out of the bend to finish in sixth.

She crossed the line in 22.88

“Not what I wanted for the 200, but I made the final so I’m still proud of that,” she says.

“I feel like we’ve tried to develop my speed and start technique this year and the 200 will come.

“It’s all a process, and I’m not too upset.”

British Virgin Islands’ Adaejah Hodge takes gold in 22.07.

She’ll be in lane seven and looking to get Australia’s first 200m medal since 2002.

Layla Sharp got so close to taking gold with her final leap of 5.06m, finishing just behind Wales’ Olivia Breen in 5.09m

Ayla Kowalczyk took bronze with 4.71m on a countback to add to Australia’s growing athletics haul.

He burst out of the blocks but got swallowed up in the final stretch.

Tough draw on the tight inside lane as South Africa’s Dambile claims gold in a canter, having been the fastest qualifier in 19.96

Kennedy crossed the line in 20.41

“I knew if I wanted to win I had to risk it, that bend is brutal, it;s so tight,” he says.

“I’m gassed I just didn’t have enough left in the tank.

“I would have like to have run a bit faster but I’m not the best of lane one.”

Lachie Kennedy in lane 1.

She has to settle for silver as the blustery conditions proved brutal for all the vaulters, but she couldn’t clear 4.70, which is well below her PB, to show how tough it was.

McCartney will take gold on countback after clearing 4.65m on her first attempt in a brilliant result.

Kennedy still with a smile as she left the mat.

Emma-Sue becomes the third Australian boxer to secure a gold medal bout in a split decision over England’s Smith.

She takes the scorecards 3-2 in what was a close bout, but no doubt the Australian landed the cleaner strikes across the final round.

She misses her first jump at 4.65 which McCartney clears in her first attempt to take the lead.

Kennedy clears it on a second attempt.

She is pipped on the line for silver by Kenyan World Champion Odira.

She moved up the field after a slow first lap and put on an early charge, which Englishwoman Georgia Hunter Bell was able to kick away from.

She misses out on silver by 0.03 seconds, but she doesn’t seem to mind as she becomes Australia’s first medal winner in this event since 1990.

“I’m speechless. I made a move on the front straight to try and get myself in a good position, and I’m so proud I made that move,” she says.

“I had no legs left at the end, but I held on and to be on the podium is unbelievable.

“I’m so proud of what I’ve been able to do and ignore the pressure and be able to perform.”

​

​