Commonwealth Games: Sheffield swimmer Ellie Faulkner secures bronze medal

There was double celebration for Sheffield's Ellie Faulkner as she and roommate Holly Hibbott both made the podium on the final night of swimming at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.
Ellie FaulknerEllie Faulkner
Ellie Faulkner

Faulkner was fourth in the 400m freestyle four years ago in Glasgow, and missed out on a podium by a single place in the 200m freestyle earlier this week.

However in her last chance at an individual medal in the longer event, she held on for a well-deserved bronze.

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While home favourite Ariarne Titmus raced to gold in 4:00.93 to become the sixth fastest woman in history, Hibbott and Faulkner made sure there was double English representation on the podium in second and third respectively.

And it was made all the more special by the fact the two are sharing a room here in Australia.

Faulkner said: “We share a room so we’re always pushing each other one and bouncing off each other. That was another reason we wanted to get on that podium together.

“It’s been a long time coming. Last Commonwealth Games I came fourth and was determined to come in and get a medal so to come away with a bronze medal - even a bit off my PB - I’m really happy.

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“I was determined to not let it be a fourth. If I had to kill myself the last 50 I was going to do it. I was determined not to come fourth especially after coming fourth in the 200. Fourth is not where I want to be, you want to be on the podium.

“I could see Holly but other than that I wasn’t thinking about it. I saw one of the girls to my left and thought ‘she’s coming’ but I wasn’t going to let her have it. I’m just over the moon.”

Once more Australia dominated the action in the pool, with Advance Australia Fair seemingly blaring out on a loop.

But after the hosts had managed a clean sweep of the medals over 800m free on Monday, Faulkner and Hibbott were desperate to avoid a repeat in the shorter event.

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Faulkner added: “We were determined to not let them [Australia] get 1-2-3, we were saying this afternoon ‘we’re not letting this happen today’. When we saw it yesterday we said we have to beat them next time.”

Elsewhere there was disappointment for Joe Litchfield and Jarvis Parkinson in the 200m IM as they missed out on a place in the final.

Litchfield was just half a second off the top eight, but despite missing out, was upbeat at what he could take from the meet.

He said: “It’s all about experience and for me it’s about Tokyo and Birmingham in four years. It’s a bump in the road on what will hopefully be a good career.”

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