Commonwealth Games, Day Six Finals: Angharad Evans Tops the Field in Women’s 200 Breast
Coming into these Commonwealth Games, Scotland had never won a gold in the women’s breaststroke events. They now have two. Angharad Evans swam to a time of 2:23.79 to win the women’s 200 breast Wednesday,.
Ranked No. 1 in the world this year, Evans had no trouble in this race up until the last 25 meters. She took the race out first at the 100-meter mark, touching in a split of 1:08.13, almost a second faster than anyone else. Evans extended her lead into the 150 mark with a split of 36.57, again the fastest in the field. But after smooth sailing for most of the race, Evans ran into some slight trouble on the last 25 meters as South Africa’s Kaylene Corbett closed the back.
Evans’ time is four seconds slower than her world-leading 2:19.70 from April. Even though she has taken big strides at this meet by being able to finish first, she still needs to work on producing her fastest swims at these international meets. Evans should have another chance to do so as she prepares to represent Great Britain at the upcoming European Championships.
Corbett Africa gave Evans a slight scare near the end. She touched second at the 150 mark, a second behind Evans, and then she out-split Evans by 0.35 on the last 50, but it would not be enough in the end. The 2025 World Championship bronze medalist now has another international medal to add to her collection.
Out of lane seven, Ellie Mc Cartney of Northern Ireland finished in third place. She touched sixth at the 150, and her final split of 37.84 would move her up to third place. Like Corbett, McCartney was too far behind at the 150 mark to challenge for gold. It was a tight race for bronze with Ella Ramsay and Aimee Canny only 0.16 and 0.32, respectively, behind Mc Cartney’s time.
