Mixed emotions for Hill after dramatic day at Commonwealth Games

It was an evening of mixed emotions for Danielle Hill who reached a maiden individual Commonwealth final but was narrowly denied a second.

The 22-year-old from Belfast recorded the sixth-fastest time in the women’s 50m freestyle semi-finals to book her place in Sunday’s final.

And she came within three hundredths of adding a second final to her programme in the 100m backstroke, the event in which she competed at Tokyo 2020 last year.

Her time of 1:01.74 was some way off her Irish record and that proved costly as she missed out on the top eight, with South Africa’s Rebecca Meder just edging her out.

Still, Hill will go in the 50m freestyle, having touched home in a time of 25.15 seconds. She will have to go some to break into the medal conversation however, with Australian trio Shayna Jack, Meg Harris and Emma McKeon dominating the semi-finals to set up the potential for another clean sweep in the pool.

Hill’s busy evening was not just restricted to her semi-finals, as she joined forces with teammates Grace Davison, Mollie McAlorum and Victoria Catterson in the final of the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay.

Catterson got the team off to a strong start, edging ahead of Scotland in the race for fifth place, but by the time Hill dived in on the anchor leg, the Scots had pulled away.

She finished strongly though as Northern Ireland claimed sixth spot. As well as her 50m freestyle final, Hill will also be back on Sunday morning for the heats of the 50m butterfly.

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