Steffensen wins Gold in 400m as Wheeler takes Silver in heptathlon

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The MCG was given an absolute spectacle by WA athletes last night. John Steffensen for months had been building up his chances at the Commonwealth Games and delivered in emphatic style taking out the mens 400m with a personal best time of 44.74. His time ranks him 3rd on the All-time Australian list for the 400m and is the first Australian male to win the 400m at the Commonwealth Games since Darren Clark in 1990.

Steffensen set up the race perfectly by staying controlled through the first 200m and unleashed his now trademark finishing kick around the top bend to pull away from the rest of the field and take his first Commonwealth Games gold medal. Steffensen now has another chance for another medal in the 4x400m relay which includes another WA runner Chris Troode. 

Only moments before Steffensens final, AthleticAs Development Officer Kylie Wheeler won a silver medal in the Heptathlon. With the Gold medal all but sewn up by Englishwoman Kelly Sotherton, Wheeler with solid performances throughout the first 5 events found herself in serious medal contention with 2 events left. In the Javelin, Wheeler threw a competitive 37.88 which brought her even closer to the silver medal.

As they field moved to the 800m, the last event of the competition, Wheeler was in 3rd by 1 point and 4th trailed Wheeler by 75 points. That one point difference meant that Wheeler had to beat Englishwoman Jessica Ennis by .07 of a second. In a tight battle Wheeler produce a great run of 2:10.62 to finish second in the race. More importantly for Kylie was ahead of all her main rivals clinching the silver medal with personal best score of 6298 points.

Some other WA athletes have already competed with some very impressive performances. Kim Mickle was in 3rd position  in the Javelin and was overtaken with one of the last throws of the competition. Mickle finished 4th, missing the bronze medal by just 9cm.

Lauren Shelley finished 8th in the Womens Marathon and Bryan Stiffall placed 6th in the Mens EAD seated discus.

There are a few more WA Athletes competing over the next few days of competition:

Oliver Dzuibak (Javelin)
Paul Burgess (Pole Vault)
Kym Howe (Pole Vault)
Vicky Parnov (Pole Vault)
Ellen Pettit (High Jump)
Chris Troode (4x400m)
John Steffensen (4x400m)