It was a super Saturday for athletes from Loughborough College who scooped four Commonwealth medals on the third day of competition in Australia.
Reigning Commonwealth champions Sophie Thornhill and Helen Scott earned a standing ovation when they successfully defended their title in the Women's B&VI 1000m time trial final, breaking their own world record on the way to a gold medal.
It was the second gold medal on the Gold Coast for Loughborough College alumna Sophie and pilot Helen after they won Thursday’s sprint, also in world record time.
After beating Australia’s Jessica Gallagher (with Madison Janssen) into second place with Scotland’s Aileen McGlynn (with Louise Haston) third, the former College sport student said: “To come away with two golds and two world records is just insane. I'm absolutely over the moon. I can't believe it.
“It’s been a busy few weeks for us, we just came from the world championships and to go home with four golds and four world records is more than we ever imagined.
“They just love sport in Australia, as soon as they clocked on that it was going to be a fast time you could hear them going louder and louder and for them to give us a standing ovation was just amazing.”
Loughborough College A-level student Zoe Smith meanwhile overcame adversity to win silver in the women’s 63kg weightlifting.
Zoe won gold in the women's -58kg in 2014 in Glasgow and despite a back injury returned with a stellar performance in the higher weight category.
The 23-year-old snatched 92kg before a clean and jerk of 115kg to post 207kg.
Maude Charron of Canada claimed gold with a 220kg total and Mona Pretorius of South Africa took bronze.
Zoe, who won Delhi 2010 bronze aged 16 said afterwards: “I didn't even know if I'd be on the platform two hours ago
“I came back from shoulder surgery (in 2015) and set my best total in November to qualify to come here, then in my preparation was going really well until about three weeks ago when I had another back injury flare up which seems to happen to me regularly, and I've not trained for three weeks.
“I rested for about five days and literally not touched a bar. So today we just went pedal to the metal and just smashed it, so I'm over the moon. I just didn't expect to be on that podium.”
At the aquatic centre, Loughborough College alumna Molly Renshaw took silver in the women’s 200m breaststroke, with South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker winning gold.
Fellow alumna Siobhan Marie O’Connor helped secure bronze for England alongside Holly Hibbott, Freya Anderson and Eleanor Faulkner for the 4x200m freestyle relay. Siobhan said: “We all did really well and it was great to get another medal for Team England.”
With six Commonwealth Games medals in total from 2014, Siobhan Marie O’Connor was England’s most decorated athlete at those Games.
Loughborough College graduate Chloe Birch progressed into the individual Badminton semi-final after beating Canada’s Michelle Li.
“We’ve had a really tough January and February setting up for this tournament, so I felt really good out there and that was probably one of the best wins of my career, so I am really happy.
“I knew that if I kept my speed I was quicker and that was the key. If I got to the shuttle early enough then I could apply the pressure first and I think that was kind of what helped me in the end.
“I fought at the start of the rally to make sure I was there early and then I think she felt a little bit of pressure to hit the perfect shot.
“Malaysia will be a really tough match tomorrow, they are one of the favourite coming in the team event, but I think we are in a great form and everyone is playing very well so we’ll go into it with great confidence.”
England men meanwhile put their opening loss against Scotland behind them with a comprehensive 100-54 win in the Basketball against India in Townsville.
Loughborough College graduate Jamell Anderson scored 14 points and added 6 steals.
Andreas Kapoulas’ side are now 1-1 with a third and final pool clash to come against Cameroon as they look to secure a top-two finish to advance to the Qualifying Finals.
Pictured: Loughborough College alumna Molly Renshaw wins silver medal in the 200m breaststroke at the Commonwealth Games