England enjoyed a golden hat-trick on the third night of athletics in the Commonwealth Games today in Melbourne.
Dean Macey won the decathlon despite more injury problems, Lisa Dobriskey was a surprise winner of the women’s 1500 metres and Christine Ohuruogu smashed her personal best to win the 400m.
There were also three bronze medals for English athletes, Mara Yamauchi in the 10,000m, Nadia Williams in the triple jump and Andrew Turner in the 110m hurdles.
Scotland’s Chris Baillie took silver in the hurdles while Wales’ Hayley Tullett won bronze in the 1,500m.
Macey held a 187-point lead going into the second day of competition but, struggling with a hamstring problem, could only manage 14.94 seconds in the 110m hurdles and 46.76m in the discus.
A superb 4.70m in the pole vault eased his worries but the 28-year-old from Essex then injured his right arm with his first throw of 56.93m in the javelin and declined to take any more attempts.
Australian Jason Dudley threw a personal best of 69.27m to move into the lead, 37 points ahead of Macey, but the Englishman was far quicker over the final event, the 1,500m, and finished almost 30 seconds ahead of Dudley to secure his first major championship.