Commonwealth Games: Fran Halsall and Siobhan-Marie O'Connor go for gold in swimming pool
Last Updated: 27/07/14 4:16pm
England will hope for more gold in the swimming pool on the fourth day of competition at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
bFran Halsall and Siobhan-Marie O’Connor both have their sights set on victory in the 50 metres butterfly and 200m individual medley respectively.
Halsall took gold in the 50m freestyle on Saturday and qualified fastest for the butterfly in a new Commonwealth record, solidifying her status as the favourite for the gold medal.
O’Connor has already taken three silver medals at this year's Games and will now go for gold in what is usually her strongest event, although Alicia Coutts of Australia will be a stern opponent.
In the men's 50m backstroke English duo Chris Walker-Hebborn and Liam Tancock and Welshman Marco Loughran will be hoping to upstage Australian favourite Ben Treffers.
Australian strength
It will be hard for any of the home nations to make a serious impact on the traditional blue riband event of the swimming schedule – the men’s 100m freestyle – with Australia looking set for a sweep of the podium places.
At the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome the track cycling programme concludes with Jason Kenny going for gold in the keirin. The England star could renew his battle with New Zealand’s Sam Webster, who he lost out to in the final of the sprint.
Jess Varnish is a heavy favourite to win bronze for England in the women's sprint as she takes on Fatehah Mustapa of Malaysia in the final.
England enter a star-studded team in the women’s 25km points race, with Olympic team pursuit-winning trio Dani King, Joanna Rowsell and Laura Trott going for gold. Katie Archibald lines up for Scotland while Elinor Barker will be hoping to give Wales a gold medal.
The athletics action gets under way on Sunday with the African contingent expected to dominate both the men’s and women’s marathon and the men’s 5000m.
The rugby sevens medals will also be decided on Sunday. Scotland, England and Wales are all still in with a shout having qualified for the quarter-finals.
