Aaron Gate beat Tom Sexton in the individual pursuit final to win his second gold medal of the Commonwealth Games.
New Zealand v New Zealand. Team-mate v team-mate.
Aaron Gate has won his second gold medal of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games after overhauling Tom Sexton to take out a dramatic all-Kiwi men’s individual pursuit final by 4.419 seconds during another highly successful day for the New Zealand team at the Lee Valley VeloPark in London where another four medals have been won.
24 hours after teaming up to win New Zealand’s first men’s team pursuit gold medal since 1990, Gate and Sexton found themselves racing against each other after posting the fastest two times in qualifying, with Gate setting a Commonwealth Games record of 4:07.129.
Sexton went out super hard in the final and led top-qualifier Gate by 1.4 seconds at the halfway point, setting up a potential upset, but he was unable to maintain a consistent pace and faded over the second half of the 4000m race, with Gate powering home to win in 4:07.760.
Gate is the third New Zealand rider to win the men’s individual pursuit after Gary Anderson in 1990 and Mike Richards in 1978.
Bryony Botha also won her second medal of the Games, going one better than the silver she captured in the team pursuit by dominating the individual pursuit final.
Botha broke her own Commonwealth Games record she set in qualifying, leading from start to finish to comfortably beat Australia’s Maeve Plouffe by a staggering 8.666 seconds.
Ian Walton/AP
Bryony Botha celebrates on the podium after winning the individual pursuit.
The 24-year-old caught up to Plouffe at the finish of the 3000m race as she ducked under 3:19 for the first time in her career to post another world-class time of 3:18.456.
Botha is the fourth New Zealand rider to win gold in the women’s individual pursuit after Alison Shanks in 2010, Sarah Ulmer in 2002 and 1998 and Madonna Harris in 1990.
“I honestly cannot believe it,” she told Sky Sport. “I wasn’t too sure how my legs would feel. In the warm-up I was like it will be what it will be and when I got there I just felt awesome and I kept going and I carried it.
“I did not expect to catch her. Maeve’s a strong rider and I thought we would be pretty even. When I looked up and saw her there I was like I’m just going to use the draft and make the most of it.”
Ellesse Andrews stunned reigning Olympic Games champion Kelsey Mitchell of Canada to win the women’s sprint, giving the 22-year-old her third medal of the competition and her second gold.
Andrews came over the top of Mitchell and beat her more fancied opponent on the line in both of the first two heats.
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