Ariarne Titmus wins third gold medal at Commonwealh Games

A typically dominant performance over 800m means Launceston's 21-year-old freestyle specialist has won three gold medals in Birmingham and set world and Commonwealth records with her pet event still to come.

This follows three golds (400m, 800m, 4x200m) and a silver (200m) on the Gold Coast four years ago.

A phenomenally-fast final saw Titmus clock a personal best time of 8:13.59 to smash the Games record.

In the fifth Australian clean sweep at Sandwell Aquatics Centre, she beat relay teammate Kiah Melverton by 3:20 with fastest qualifier Lani Pallister third (+5:57).

RELATED: Georgia Baker wins gold medal, Ariarne Titmus' gold medal world record

"I haven't done an 800 really competitively since the Olympics so I didn't really know what to expect," Titmus said.

"I'm happy with the PB and happy that all three of us were on the podium, that's the best.

"I don't know how good it is for them because my singing is horrendous but Commonwealth Games is really the only meet where you can have three on the podium because usually it's just two, so for us to have that opportunity it's really once in a lifetime."

Titmus had already won the 200m and 4x200m relay with her anchor-leg time of 1:52.82 officially the fastest relay split ever, becoming the first woman to break 1:53 in a relay. The world record in the individual 200m is 1:52.98, set by Italian Federica Pellegrini in 2009.

The former Sacred Heart and St Patrick's College student will conclude her hectic program in Birmingham with the 400m on Wednesday. Her heat is at 11.03am with the final scheduled for 8.48pm.

A disappointing women's fours campaign and some Australian bowling history is motivating Rebecca Van Asch and her teammates in the women's triples in Birmingham.

The Invermay bowler and teammates Lynsey Clarke and Natasha van Eldik were in the fours team (along with Kristina Krstic) which fell short of the quarter-finals after one win, one loss and a tie in their pool.

They bounced back with a solid opening-round 22-11 defeat of Singapore in the triples in blustery conditions at Victoria Park in Leamington Spa, establishing a 13-1 lead after six ends and finishing strongly by winning three of the last four ends.

READ MORE: Tasmania hopes for return wins at under-16 national hockey champs

"The score probably makes it look like it was a bit more comfortable than it was," Van Asch said.

"We had it in our heads that once we were out in front we wanted to capitalise and finish strong because we're in a tough section and it could very well come back to margin. That bit us in the fours and we don't want that to happen again. So if there's opportunities to grab more shots, we'll try and do it.

"The fours was disappointing, obviously, but full credit to our opponents. We just got outplayed, unfortunately, and didn't bring it when we needed to. We're trying to feed off that disappointment and that's motivating us now because we don't want to go through that again."

A world champion in pairs (2012), triples and fours (both 2016) and multiple national champion, Van Asch is backing up a 2018 Commonwealth Games campaign which yielded a golden double.

The Aussie triples team faces a double-header on Wednesday, against Falkland Islands (3pm) and South Africa (6pm), before their final pool match against Northern Ireland at 3pm on Thursday.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: