Davies completes Commonwealth double in 5 000m, LaFond leaps to historic Dominica gold

Australia’s Rose Davies completed a 5 000 and 10 000 metre double in Glasgow as Olympic triple jump champion Thea LaFond finally landed gold in her fourth Commonwealth Games on Thursday.

Davies outgunned teammate Jessica Hull in a shootout over the final 400m after the Australian duo pulled away from Scotland’s Megan Keith, who held on for bronze to the delight of the home crowd.

In adding the 5 000m title to her 10 000m crown earlier in the week, Davies becomes the first woman to complete the long distance double in Commonwealth Games history.

LaFond arrived at Glasgow’s last Commonwealth Games in 2014 as a teenager.

After bronze in the Gold Coast in 2018 and silver in Birmingham four years ago she finally delivered a first Commonwealth gold medal for the tiny Caribbean island of Dominica.

“It feels so bittersweet. The sweet part is that I’ve really been waiting for this. I’ve now won every colour of Commonwealth Games medal there is, and it feels amazing to be a trailblazer for Dominica,” said the 32-year-old.