![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Karin-Burger-of-Team-New-Zealand-jumps-to-block-Niamh-McCall-of-Team-Scotland-2026-Comm-Games-GETTY..jpeg\")
Karin Burger jumps to block Scottish shooter Niamh McCall during their opening victory in Glasgow. Photo: Getty Images.<\/p>\nPerformance of the day<\/p>\n
\u201cThis medal is 20 years,\u201d a tearful Hazel Ouwehand said, a \u201cheavy\u201d bronze around her neck \u2013 her first international swimming medal of any hue.<\/p>\n
The lanky 50m butterfly sprinter \u2013 who also works fulltime as an Auckland accountant \u2013 made it two bronzes for New Zealand on day two, just minutes after Erika Fairweather won her second medal of these Games with a stunning finish in the 200m freestyle.<\/p>\n
The Kiwi swimmers almost added a third bronze later in the morning, with the 4x100m freestyle mixed relay \u2013 featuring Fairweather in her third swim of the day \u2013 narrowly missing the podium, edged out by Wales.<\/p>\n
Ouwehand, who grew up in the tiny Waikato settlement of Te Pah\u016b and learned to swim from her mum, paid tribute to her family, who were in the stands at the Tollcross Swimming Centre.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout my mum and dad waking up at 5am for at least the first 10-15 years of my swimming\u2026 without my sisters who used to swim as well, I was following in their footsteps,\u201d the 26-year-old said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy middle sister Chelsea\u2019s dream was always to go to the Comm Games and the Olympics, so I also feel like I\u2019m doing this for her too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ouwehand missed the 50m fly final at the 2022 Games, but was the third-fastest qualifier after last night\u2019s semifinals. She was rapt to break 26s in a hectic final, clocking 25.76s, with Aussie Alex Perkins winning in 25.37s. World junior champion Zoe Pedersen, still just 19, also made it into her first Commonwealth final \u2013 and finished a hugely creditable fifth.<\/p>\n
After her 400m freestyle silver on day one, Fairweather dug deep to win her bronze in the 200m. The fifth-fastest qualifier, Fairweather powered past English swimmer Freya Colbert on the swim home, finishing in 1m 55.24s, just 0.18s outside her personal best time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was definitely a bit of a dog fight, but yeah, I was happy to get the job done,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The mixed relay quartet of Chelsey Edwards, Fairweather, Cameron Gray and Carter Swift had to be content with setting a new New Zealand record of 3m 24.82s, missing bronze by half a second. <\/p>\n
She said it<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve competed against Hazel since I was probably like 15 years old. And to be at the Commonwealth Games with her, it\u2019s just so special. It\u2019s going to be a moment I remember forever,\u201d Zoe Pedersen on swimming next to Ouwehand in the 50m butterfly final, before walking away from the pool hand-in-hand with her role model.<\/p>\n
The good news<\/p>\n
New Zealand\u2019s 3\u00d73 women\u2019s basketball team are three from three, ending their first day stopping 2022 silver medallists England in their tracks, 21-12.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe definitely had to grind that one out\u2026 England was a battle from the start,\u201d said Eva Langton afterwards. \u201cThree from three is awesome, where we wanted to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team of Langton, Ella Fotu, Azure Anderson and Sharne Pupuke-Robati beat Papua New Guinea, 22-6, and Tonga, 21-8. Pupuke-Robati ended the day with a stand-out 30 points.<\/p>\n
The Silver Ferns are on the board in Glasgow, but will need get down to business much quicker and slicker against 2022 silver medallists Jamaica tomorrow morning.<\/p>\n
In their first hit-out of 2026, the Silver Ferns beat Scotland 74-44, but it wasn\u2019t always convincing. Wearing an unusual grey dress, the Ferns looked rusty at times, struggling to forge some connections.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know we have a lot of work to do on attack and defence,\u201d said Grace Nweke, who shot 29 from 30 in her two quarters. \u201cWe just want to start the game well and be confident in our structures and our game. We know Jamaica have firepower, but so do we, and I think it will be a great match-up,\u201d<\/p>\n
In Dame Noeline Taurua\u2019s first time at the helm in 634 days, she gave 11 of her 12 players court-time, resting Catherine Hall who\u2019s returning from injury. Goal keep Kelly Jackson was the only player on court for the full 60 minutes and with good reason \u2013 holding the defence together with four intercepts and seven gains. She paired well with Carys Stythe, playing her first test at goal defence. Taurua also tried Mila Reuelu-Buchanan at wing defence for the first time. <\/p>\n
While the New Zealand shooting stats were respectable, successful with 89 percent, there were some ropey passes in and out of the circle. Scotland, ranked 10th in the world, put up a decent fight, but the Ferns finally got their act together to dominate the fourth quarter, 21-7.<\/p>\n
Karin Burger jumps to block Scottish shooter Niamh McCall during their opening victory in Glasgow. Photo: Getty Images.<\/p>\n
Coming out of a six-year retirement, gymnast Courtney McGregor has made two finals in the individual all-round and the vault. The Auckland trainee doctor was the best of the four New Zealanders competing in the teams event, finishing 15th in the field of 38 gymnasts, and eighth in the vault, her favoured apparatus. <\/p>\n
New Zealand\u2019s Para bowls mixed pair of Sonya Woodrow (with director Kimberley Carraher) and Kerrin Wheeler (with director Colin Wheeler) kept their medal hopes alive with a thrilling tie break win over Wales, and a dominant 6-5, 7-1 win over Australia.<\/p>\n
The previously unbeaten women\u2019s pair of Katelyn Inch and Selina Goddard also found themselves in a third set tiebreaker against Canada, but didn\u2019t get the rub of the indoor green, losing 4-5, 5-3, 2-0. They\u2019ll need to beat table-topping Wales in their next match to stay in the medal hunt.<\/p>\n
First-time Games swimmers and training partners Amber George and Savannah-Eve Martin both made it into the semifinals of the 100m backstroke, but finished sixth and seventh, missing out on the final.<\/p>\n
The not-so good news<\/p>\n
There will be no fairy-tale home Games for Scotland\u2019s star track athlete Eilish McColgan, whose bid to defend her 10,000m title has been scuppered by a toe injury.<\/p>\n
The Dundee runner \u2013 poster girl for these Games \u2013 hurt her foot during the London Marathon 10 weeks ago and ran out of runway to get on the startline. \u201cThe good news is I\u2019m back running. The bad news is I\u2019ve simply run out of time to get myself, and my toe, back into spikes.\u201d<\/p>\n
What the?<\/p>\n
Two Australian Diamonds sat in the stands at The Hydro cheering not for their world No.1 side, but for Tonga \u2013 the netball team making their Commonwealth Games debut.<\/p>\n
Amy Parmenter and Jessie Grenvold, Diamond reserves in Glasgow, held a sign reading \u2018The People\u2019s Princess Pav\u2019 \u2013 for their Melbourne Mavericks teammate Uneeq Palavi, who was born in Australia but represents the island nation courtesy of her Tongan dad.<\/p>\n
Even with Pav\u2019s unlikely vocal cheer squad, Tonga couldn\u2019t keep pace with the defending champions, who cruised to a 99-38 victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just another step closer to put our little country on the map and that\u2019s all that matters,\u201d Palavi said.<\/p>\n
Who\u2019s up next<\/p>\n
SWIMMING: Chelsey Edwards, Zoe Pedersen, 100m freestyle, Sun 9.35pm, Hazel Ouwehand, 100m butterfly, Sun 10.48pm (semis Mon 6.45am & 7.34am). Erika Fairweather, Caitlin Deans, Eve Thomas, 1500m freestyle, Mon 8.04am.\u00a0<\/p>\n
BOXING: Greer Hall, first round, Sun 10.45pm\u00a0<\/p>\n
LAWN BOWLS: Selina Goddard & Katelyn Inch, women\u2019s pairs, Sun 11.45pm<\/p>\n
GYMNASTICS: Women\u2019s all round final, Courtney McGregor, Mon 5am<\/p>\n
NETBALL: Silver Ferns vs Jamaica, Mon 6am<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Performance of the day \u201cThis medal is 20 years,\u201d a tearful Hazel Ouwehand said, a \u201cheavy\u201d bronze around…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-544240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}