Dan Goodfellow won Commonwealth Games diving gold with Tom Daley and Niamh Emerson claimed Heptathlon bronze on day nine of competition on the Gold Coast.
Rio bronze medallists Tom and former Loughborough College student Dan took the synchronized 10m platform title with 405.81 points after beating English teammates Matthew Dixon and Noah Williams.
Daley had pulled out of the individual 10m platform through injury: “Tom has been struggling all week but it shows what a great competitor he is,” said Dan. “We only did our dives two days ago so we didn't know what would happen. We’re not here for long now but we’re going to enjoy it. “
Niamh Emerson had a dominant win the 800m to climb from fourth to win bronze for England in the Heptathlon.
The former Loughborough College student needed to make up around eight seconds on Australian Celeste Mucci and streaked ahead to win the race by more than five seconds and come home some 27 seconds ahead of the home athlete.
“She was determined to get that bronze medal and what a way for her to announce herself on the world stage," said Jessica Ennis-Hill.
At 18, Niamh is two years younger than Ennis-Hill was when she took Commonwealth bronze in 2006. She completed her seven events with a new personal best of 6,043 points and followed teammate Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who won gold, onto the podium.
“I’m really, really happy. I always wanted to get a medal, it was always my aim. But wanting to get it and actually doing so are two very different things, so I’m very happy.
“I was very pleased with my high jump and also my 200m and javelin. I think I was quite solid overall, but these areas stood out. I knew going into the 800m that I had to beat the girl ahead of me by 10 seconds, so I had a plan in place. Because of my knee injury, I only started high jumping properly about four weeks ago, so I had no idea I had that in me!
“KJT is very inspirational – she’s very helpful, just saying little things that help. I’ve now got a busy season with World Junior and also Europeans, so all being well I’ll do both of those.”
Loughborough College Sport student Ross Wilson won his table tennis 6-10 singles semi-final against Joshua Stacey of Wales 3-1 and will play his Games room mate Kim Daybell, in the final.
Speaking afterwards, he said: “I had to counter his really strong start and I changed my tactics so I felt like I addressed that and was more positive in the second set and I thought I followed up on my serves better. He was following it up well, and he’s a good player so it’s really pleasing to be in to the final.
“It’s going to be brilliant [to play against Kim], it will be a different match, but great for it to be an all-England final. I think my approach will be the same as any other match and you always want to win. It’s fantastic for England but we both want the Gold medal. I’m just over the moon to be in a final of a Commonwealth Games.”
Loughborough College alumni Richard Kilty and Harry Aikines-Aryeety helped England win their 4 x 100m relay heat in a time of 38.15. "Reuben's shown experience and confidence coming in to run first leg,” said Kilty. “He's only had ten days, two weeks’ notice and he's held his own with some of the best sprinters in the world, like the Jamaicans. Absolutely solid, calm and collected all the way through. We all gave him some advice and he's completely taken on and shown some confidence.
"Zharnel flew down the back straight. He's hungry and he's going to be moving. I know with my acceleration we can do some damage around the top bend and obviously me and Harry we're like clockwork with that, as we've been working on that since 2015. We're solid and confident going into the final.
"We really felt for Zharnel. Looking back at the replay, it didn't seem like anyone's fault, it's just championship athletics. I was gutted for him. It was heart-breaking to watch - we gave him a big hug when he came in."
Harry, who ran leg 4, added:"It was about coming out here, performing and making sure we got through to the final. Zharnel's shown some resilience to come out here to perform with the team. At the same time, Reuben was a last minute addition in terms of timing and it shows the kind of strength in depth we have to come out here and run 38.1.
"The guy was jet lagged not too long ago, so to be able to come out and do what he's been able to do, with the Jamaicans outside of us, we've put a good race together.
"There's no fear. We're lions and we've got to roar. We want nothing but the best for ourselves, for the team and the nation. There's a lot of us as part of the relay. Adam's back stage and we're doing it for him as well. We've got that core support for each other."
It was a Commonwealth Games debut for Rugby Sevens, featuring Loughborough College degree student Megan Jones and alumna Claire Allan on the squad.
The women got off to a winning start, seeing off Fiji 17-5 but they lost against Australia 29-12. They next face Wales in their group.
It was an agonizing 2-1 loss to Australia for England men, in the Hockey today. The defeat for the side, which includes Loughborough College graduates Henry Weir and Chris Griffiths, will see them face India for bronze tomorrow.
Loughborough College alumna Chloe Birch, who won Badminton team bronze for England on Monday, lost with partner Jessica Pugh in the women’s doubles quarter finals against Malaysia: “I think that was always going to be a difficult match. The Malaysians, even though they are not seeded here and they aren't usually placed together, they are both very strong players. One of them has been on top of the world in women’s doubles for quite some time. Credit to them today. They went out and they played well. We struggled to get into the game a little bit. We gave it our all and that’s all we can do.
“There has been lots of game time this Commonwealth Games. A medal in the team was great. We showed a really strong team performance. Everyone performed.
“The individuals are always tough after you have played a tough team event. There is lots of experience to gain. We have played some top players here and we are both still quite young. We will be looking to look back on the games and see where we can move forward.”
Former Loughborough College student Alicia Barrett finished eighth in the women’s 100m hurdles final: “I don’t know where to start. I just tried to keep the aggression going and push me on, but it came a point when I just made too many mistakes.
“I know I can do it - yesterday shows I can, but it’s early in the season. So I just need to work on putting things together.”
In the Men’s 4x400m relay heats Loughborough College former student Matthew Hudson-Smith pulled up with an injury on the first leg and England are now out.
Hudson-Smith won his heat of the 400m comfortably on Sunday, only to be disqualified after the race for running out of his lane.
This morning in the relay - an event in which England won a bronze medal at last year's world championships - Hudson-Smith was the lead-off runner but barely got 40 metres into the race when he went to ground having ripped his hamstring.
He dropped the baton and he limped back to his teammates, including fellow former College student Martyn Rooney, at the start line. They helped him from the track, their Games over before they had got a chance to run.