Jake Birtwhistle claimed Australia's first medal of the Commonwealth Games, producing a storming finish to claim silver in the triathlon.
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On a wet and windy day at Southport Broadwater Parklands on the Gold Coast, Launceston's former under-23 world champion dominated a world-class field which featured the top four finishers from the last Olympic Games.
“It was hard. I'm pretty happy with the result finishing in second. I gave it everything I had out there and that's all I can do I suppose,” said Birtwhistle, 23.
“It's amazing. There's going to be plenty more (Australian medallists) but pretty awesome in my first Games’ experience to get a medal on day one.
“It's a huge relief off my shoulders, I've been working towards this for a long time and to be able to come here and execute a race like that I couldn't ask for much more than that.”
Emerging 18th after the first-leg 750-metre swim in very choppy waters, Birtwhistle slotted into a chase group of cyclists 21 seconds behind the leading six.
The margin grew to 31 seconds with Birtwhistle 12th after the 20km ride before he showed the running pedigree that made him an 11-time Australian junior athletics champion.
By the halfway point of the 5km run he was up to fifth, moments later he had left Britain's all-conquering Brownlee brothers in his wake to sit second and he was still closing the gap on South African Henri Schoeman.
The Rio bronze medallist held on to win by just seven seconds, in 52:31, with Scot Marc Austin a further six seconds back in third.
“I knew the swim was where I was going to get put under the most pressure and that's exactly what happened,” Birtwhistle said.
“I was just a little bit down coming out of the water and didn't quite have the support in the bike group.
“It ended up coming down to the run and after the hard bike I wasn't sure I'd have much left but I guess I just dug deep and gave it everything. With the support of the home crowd it was unbelievable and something I'll remember for a long time.
“I was taking it one step at a time, just one by one, and running my own race. I thought I'd struggle to finish in the top 10 so really happy that I was able to put together that run after the hard ride on the bike.
“Those guys up front are obviously the strongest swim-bikers in the world but are bloody good runners too but I knew I'm one of the best runners in the sport and I knew I'd be able to close the gaps but I didn't expect to pull that many back and run my way to second.”
Asked if he saw the result as redemption for missing selection to the 2016 Olympics, Birtwhistle said: “Yeah, I guess. Rio was probably one year too early for me in terms of my performances and since then it's been up and up. Up to second so far and the journey continues.
“To come out and be able to challenge those guys and to be able to really consider myself one of the best in the world is pretty cool."
Cheered on by his parents Alan and Carmen, sister Alix and girlfriend Millie Wyllie, Birtwhistle said he could turn his attention to the team relay, in which he helped Australia claim a world championship last year.
“Next is to prepare for the relay on Saturday, I'm really excited for that,” he said.
“It's becoming a huge event in triathlon, very cool to have it here and I'm really looking forward to it.”
Ashleigh Gentle, Charlotte McShane and Matt Hauser joined Birtwhistle to win Australia’s first world championship in the event in Hamburg and all have been selected for the Commonwealth Games, along with home-state duo Luke Willian and Gillian Backhouse.
The mixed team relay debuted at the Commonwealth Games in 2014 in Glasgow, where Australia finished with the bronze medal behind England and South Africa, and will make its Olympic debut in the 2020 Games in Tokyo.