Rebecca Adlington Powers To Gold

Rebecca Adlington put illness behind her to get her first Commonwealth Games gold medal in the 800m freestyle.

The twenty one year old had been feeling unwell, like many of the British swimmers, in recent days but she put in a gutsy performance that saw her dominate for the start.

Adlington already has two medals under her belt having picked up two bronze medals earlier in the week. She led from the gun but South Africa's Wendy Trott did start to close the considerable gap that she had built up in the final 200m.

But Adlington was strong enough to stay ahead and with a time of 8:24.69 she was crowned Commonwealth champion. Trott, who was the fastest in qualifying finished second while Melissa Gorman collected the bronze.

Speaking to the BBC after the race Adlington said: "It's not about the time here at all with the stuff that's going on.

"My coach told me to stick with the others until 400m, but I thought there's not much point in holding back, just go for it. I'm much more comfortable when I'm out in front.

"I could see Wendy edging closer to me but I thought 'there's no way she can catch me' so I eased back a bit and just did enough.

"With everything that's going on here you don't want to push yourself too hard. It's all mental pressure, and I put the most on myself because I want it so badly. The 400m will be a big ask."

There were more medals for the home nations in the 100m butterfly as Ellen Gandy of England and Wales' Jemma Lowe came second and third behind Australia's girls of the games Alicia Coutts, this was her third gold medal.

Having been dogged illness for the last twenty four hours Fran Halsall was back in the pool, despite still feeling ill, to reached the 50m freestyle final.

She has already picked up two medals, gold in the 50m butterfly and a bronze in the 100m freestyle, and looked good to add a third tomorrow.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw