QUT elite athletes made significant contributions to the Australian team's haul of medals in Birmingham, with two gold and three silver for gymnast Georgia Godwin, a gold and silver for swimmer Sam Short and two gold for Mitch Larkin at this year's Commonwealth Games.
Medal tally for QUT students: 9
- Georgia Godwin
- Gold for Women's Artistic All-Around and Gold for Women's Vault
- Silver for teams event, silver for Women's Uneven Bars and silver for Women's Balance Beam
- Sam Short
- Gold for 1500m Men's freestyle
- Silver for 400m Men's freestyle
- Mitch Larkin
- Gold for Mixed 4 x 100m Medley
- Gold for Men's 4 x 100m Medley
Swimming, athletics, badminton, diving, and gymnastics are among the sports eight QUT athletes are competing against the best from more than 70 countries.
Over the weekend, Georgia Godwin did one better than her silver performance at the Gold Coast 2018 games by securing gold in Birmingham for the Women's Artistic All-Around with a score of 53.550. She also won silver with her teamates for the team's event. She then won gold in the Women's Vault, silver in the Uneven Bars and silver in the Balance Beam.
The Bachelor of Clinical Exercise Physiology student started in gymnastics when she was three when her parents enrolled her in the local PCYC program.
18-year-old swimmer Samuel Short, who is studying dual science and law honours degrees, continued Australia's long dominance of the event when he won the 1500m frreestyle (below). Earlier in the games, he won silver in the 400m freestyle.
Sam is a recipient of a joint QUT-AIS Scholarship, the first of its kind to be announced last year.
Olympics and Commonwealth games veteran Mitch Larkin, who studies Property Economics, was part of two winning relay teams in Birmingham.
Larkin, who also competed in the Individual Medley, swam in the heats of the Mixed 100m Medley Relay team (below) and the Men's 100m Medley Relay, with both relay teams going on to win gold.
24-year-old Jacinta Beecher, who studies law, competed in the semi final of the 200m track and the final of the 4 x 100m women's relay that finished fourth.
QUT law alumnus Henry Frayne attended his third Commonwealth Games in men’s triple jump and in the long jump, where he placed 6th and paid tribute to his competitors.
"Not the prize I was chasing and honestly a bitter pill to swallow, but sport is bitter sweet," he wrote via his Instagram account.
"Credit to the emerging crop of young jumpers."
23-year-old Georgia Sheehan finished seventh in the final of the 3m springboard event on day 10 of the Commonwealth Games.
Awarded a Vice-Chancellor Scholarship and studying a Bachelor of Creative Industries the former gymnast turned diver also competed in the women’s 1m springboard event and finished fifth.
Two-time Badminton Olympian and again representing Australia for a second Commonwealth Games, Wendy Chen competed in both doubles and singles events.
In a hard fought bronze medal match Chen with partner Gronya Somerville were defeated by India.
The Bachelor of Clinical Exercise Physiology student has won the women's singles titles at the Oceania Championships for six consecutive years.
Bachelor of Medical Imaging (Honours) student Ryan Maskelyne represented Papua New Guinea and made the men's final in the breastroke.
The eight athletes have been supported with their studies through the QUT Elite Athlete Program.
QUT’s Sports Manager Emily Rosemond said it was great to see a mix of experienced and new QUT student athletes representing Australia.
Credit top photo: Photo by Zac Goodwin/PA Images via Getty Images and Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images
MEDIA CONTACT: media@qut.edu.au
