Chad le Clos won the 50-meter butterfly for South Africa, did a victory lap on the pool deck and was back in the water within minutes leading halfway through the 200 freestyle final.

It was pretty much Australia's night after that Friday in the Commonwealth Games pool.

Lactic acid kicked in and le Clos ran out of steam, fading to finish seventh after the Australian pair of Kyle Chalmers and Mack Horton overhauled him over the last two laps to take gold and silver.

"I'm very happy with the 50. The 200, not so much," said le Clos, who came to the Gold Coast hoping to set a record for most career medals in the Commonwealth Games. "I went hard early, try to kill the race if I could, then hang on.

"The turnaround was tougher than I expected. When I saw Kyle coming past I was like, 'ahhg," he joked, "I nearly grabbed his leg."

Chalmers, the Olympic 100 freestyle champion who missed the world championships last year to undergo heart surgery for a for a non-life-threatening condition, powered home to hold off Olympic 400 gold medalist Horton.

That kicked off a run of gold medals for the Aussies, with Clyde Lewis holding off Scotland's Mark Szaranek and New Zealand's Lewis Clareburt to win the 400 medley, Mitch Larkin winning the 100 backstroke, Emma McKeon leading a sweep of medals in the women's 100 backstroke in a games record 56.78 seconds.

Chalmers capped the night when he anchored the home team to a dominant victory in the 4x100 freestyle relay, the sixth Australian gold of Day 2 in the pool.

Le Clos hadn't won any kind of 50-meter title in an Olympic-size pool, so he was content with his opening victory despite the absence of world champion Ben Proud of England, who was disqualified in the preliminaries.

He entered the Gold Coast games chasing seven medals in a bid to surpass the Commonwealth Games record career haul of 18. After missing out in the 200, he revised his target down to equal the mark.

Le Clos swam the second leg of the relay but his South Africa team finished out of the medals, meaning his bid to set the record will have to wait until 2022. He has 13 to date.

Chalmers knew le Clos would go out hard in the 200, so he settled early and then made up five places over the last two laps to win in 1 minute, 45.56 seconds for his first Commonwealth Games title. He was 0.33 ahead of teammate Mack Horton, who won the 400 free the previous night. Scott Duncan of Scotland took bronze.

"The third 50 felt pretty strong, and I knew I had a bit to give in that last 50," he said. "It's awesome to go 1-2 with one of my best mates."

Le Clos won the 50 fly in 23.37 seconds, beating Dylan Carter of Trinidad and Tobago and fellow South African Ryan Coetzee to open the night program. His victory ceremony for that followed Sarah Vasey's win in the women's 50-meter breaststroke in the very next race, and didn't give him much time to prepare for the freestyle.

Vasey's win in 30.60 seconds gave England its fifth gold medal in the pool and Alia Atkinson of Jamaica picked up silver for the second straight Commonwealth Games. Australia's Leiston Picket, who entered as the two-time defending champion, finished third.

The second-night surge gave Australia the lead in the pool with eight gold, seven silver and seven bronze. England was in second spot with six gold, two silver and a pair of bronze.

 

Aussie men win freestyle relay gold medal

Australia has won the men's 4x100m freestyle relay gold medal at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

The Australian team of Cameron McEvoy, James Magnussen, Jack Cartwright and Kyle Chalmers cruised to victory in Friday night's final.

The quartet finished about two and a half seconds ahead of silver medallists England with Scotland taking the bronze medal.

The Australians trailed the Scots after McEvoy's first leg, but Magnussen then took a lead that was never threatened.

The 19-year-old Cartwright, swimming the third leg, clocked the fastest split of the Australians - 47.71 seconds.

Chalmers, who earlier on Friday night won the individual 200m freestyle, then ensured victory with a strong last leg.

 

Kyle Chalmers wins 200m freestyle gold, Mack Horton takes silver at Commonwealth Games

Australian Kyle Chalmers has won the gold medal in the men's 200m freestyle at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Compatriot Mack Horton took the silver medal in Friday night's final with another Australian, Alexander Graham, finishing sixth.

Chalmers triumphed after adding the 200m freestyle to his pet event, the 100m free - which he won at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

The South Australian was sixth at the halfway point in Friday night's medal race before turning for the last 50m in second place.

Chalmers then unleashed his trademark late surge to win by 0.33 seconds from Horton, who was fifth with 50m remaining.

Horton's silver follows his gold medal in the 400m freestyle on Thursday night.

Australia's Mitch Larkin meanwhile won the gold medal in the men's 100m backstroke.

And Larkin's teammate Brad Woodward took the silver medal in Friday night's final.

Larkin's victory gives him a second Commonwealth Games gold following his 200m backstroke success four years ago in Glasgow, where he also collected silver over 100m.

 

Mitch Larkin Pulls Away for Commonwealth Gold in 100m backstroke

Australia’s Mitch Larkin held a narrow lead at the halfway point of the 100 back final, but he quickly pulled away to comfortably win the gold medal. Larkin, the 2015 World Champion in the event, finished in 53.18, just off Chris Walker-Hebborn’s Games record of 53.12 set four years ago.

The Aussie men finished 1-2 with Bradley Woodward taking second in 53.95. Canada’s Markus Thormeyer grabbed the bronze in 54.14.

England’s Luke Greenbank grabbed fourth in 54.37, and Wales’ Xavier Castelli took fifth in 54.60, just ahead of Australia’s Ben Treffers (54.62). Also in the final were New Zealand’s Corey Main (54.88) and Northern Ireland’s Conor Ferguson (55.01).

 

Timothy Disken Takes S9 100 Free Commonwealth Gold for Australia

Australia’s Timothy Disken roared to Commonwealth gold in the men’s S9 100 free, putting up a time of 56.07 that was seven tenths better than England’s Lewis White. Disken’s win broke England’s three-event winning streak in Para events to begin the meet.

White took second in 56.77, and Australia’s Brendan Hall joined Disken on the podium with a 57.90. Another Aussie, Timothy Hodge, took fourth in 58.11.

Others in the field included New Zealand’s Chris Arbuthnott (58.65), New Zealand’s Jesse Reynolds(1:00.03), Northern Ireland’s Barry McClements (1:00.34) and England’s Jacob Leach (1:02.04).

 

20-year-old Clyde Lewis wins spectacular gold medal for Australia

AUSTRALIA has just found another cult swimming hero with 20-year-old Clyde Lewis delivering an unforgettable poolside interview to match his explosive gold medal swim.