Commonwealth Games, Day Five Finals: Jenna Forrester Completes Medley Sweep with 200 Win
If Jenna Forrester wasn’t a well-known name coming into these Games, she has certainly become one now. After wins in both the 200 backstroke and 400 individual medley, Forrester now puts herself on a short list of female swimmers to win three individual gold medals at a single Commonwealth Games. She earned that distinction on Tuesday night, winning a tight battle in 2:09.24.
Forrester touched in second place at the 100-meter mark, with Katie Shanahan of Scotland taking the race out fast from Lane Eight. At the final turn, Forrest was in third, trailing England’s Amalie Smith and South Africa’s Aimee Canny. But Forrester closed the race fast, and took no breaths over the final 10 meters. Her freestyle split of 30.77 made the difference, and Forrester showed her winning traits in the final stretch of the race.
Canny finished in second for the second time at this meet. Her time of 2:09.37 is a new best time by half a second, and was made possible by an incredible breaststroke leg where she moved up from seventh to second. For 45 meters of the freestyle leg, Canny led, but Forrester’s incredible finish was too much to hold off. Canny was also the runnerup in the 100 breaststroke.
Smith, a 16-year-old, finished in third, touching in a time of 2:09.61. Smith turned first at the 150-meter mark, but had the weakest freestyle of the medal finishers. The swim marked her first time under the 2:10 barrier.
Surprisingly, Abbie Wood of England finished in eighth place. The 2022 bronze medalist in this race was three seconds over her best time, which was produced this season.