Fran Halsall Gets England's First Gold

Fran Halsall got England's first gold medals of the Commonwealth Games as she stormed to victory in the 50 metre butterfly, seeing off a strong Australian quartet.

The 50m butterfly is not the strongest of Halsall's events but she finished third fastest in the semi final. But in the final she clocked a time of 26.24 seconds, beating world champion Marieke Guehrer into second.

Emily Seebohm took bronze in a time of 26.29, the top three were separated by just five hundredths of a second.

Speaking to BBC Sport after the race Halsall said: When I saw I'd won I thought, 'That was cheeky'. I enjoy being the underdog and when there are people better than me to take down, that's incentive to take it one step further.

"I changed my start a bit tonight, got up a bit earlier, got it right, did a good finish and it just happened."

"Fran doesn't get over-excited, she's very, very laid back."

It was a good morning for England's women as Kate Haywood took bronze in the 50m breaststroke while Stephanie Millward also won a bronze in the 50m freestyle 59.

And Halsall was back in the pool after winning her medal to compete in the 100m freestyle semi final, she finished second and will once again be racing for medals.

But there was disappointment for Lizzie Simmonds as she failed to reach the 100m backstroke final, Gemma Spofforth did get through but she also looked out of form.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw