There were crazy scenes at the Commonwealth Games on Saturday night as seven riders were wiped out by a crash in the men’s 10km scratch cycling race. And there was heartbreak for Australia in the athletics when Jemma Pollard fell in the 4×400m mixed relay and the team was later disqualified.
Pollard had surged to the lead on the final leg of the race, but hit a wall in the last 40m as lactic acid built up in her legs. The Aussie runner hit the deck before getting back up to finish the race in seventh.
Riders were injured a crazy cycling crash, while the Aussie 4x400m mixed relay team was disqualified. Image: AAP
Unfortunately for the Aussies they were later disqualified and rubbed out of the results. Bruce McAvaney said in commentary: “She’s in all sorts of trouble. Poor Jemma Pollard. She’s hit the ground so hard and we just feel for her right now.”
Tamsyn Manou added: “The three Australians ran absolutely brilliant to give her the baton. She had a lot of pressure on her shoulders knowing she was up in the lead. She wanted to try and get them a medal, she just got her splits a little bit wrong.
“She went too fast over the first 200m and the lactic acid crept in. It’s happened to all the best 400m runners where the legs get really wooden and you just can not pull them off the track.
Pollard confirmed she went too hard in the first 300m, saying: “I’ve never fallen over in a race before so it was pretty upsetting. We have such an amazing team, I know we had the rest of Australia behind us back home. In the future we have so much more to give. I was hoping it would be today but we have so much more ahead of us.”
Chaos in cycling as rider taken off on stretcher
It wasn’t the only fall of the day as a Malaysian rider was stretchered off the track and two others needed medical attention after a mass pileup in the cycling. As riders jockeyed for position with one lap remaining in the men’s 10km scratch race, a crash in the back half of the pack took down seven riders and they all failed to finish.
Three Australians in the race managed to dodge the carnage and Tom Cornish went on to win silver behind Henry Hobbs of England. But Malaysian rider New Joe Lau was taken from the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome on a stretcher, Red Walters of Grenada suffered a suspected broken collarbone and Jonathan Hinse of Canada was also in the hands of medical staff for several minutes before walking gingerly back to the team pits.
“In racing, we’re pretty used to the chaos. When you hear something like that and it’s behind you, it’s almost a sigh of relief – just because you’re in front of it and you don’t have to dodge anyone,” Cornish said.
“So that was quite lucky. At that point, it’s an all-out sprint anyway and there’s not really much you can change. I was lucky to hold it up, I think.”
Seven riders were taken out by the crazy crash. Image: Getty
with AAP