Powerlifter baffled by tie-breaker that won England’s first Commonwealth Games gold

Mark Swan won the first England gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, and victory came as a surprise.

The Paralympic powerlifter took first place in the men’s lightweight event at the SEC Arena in Glasgow on Friday.

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Swan posted a personal best of 222kg, which is more than three times his body weight, on his second attempt.

He and Roland Ezuruike of Nigeria were level on 153.9 points ahead of the third and final round, and therefore battling for gold.

Both failed their last lifts, which drew confusion over who the winner was, given they remained tied.

However, Swan emerged victorious for England thanks to the use of a coefficient formula.

As per the Commonwealth Games, they fairly scored the lifts against the participants’ respective body weights.

Swan, at 71.5 kg, stunningly won gold by just two decimal points, which are said to have not even been visible on the results screen.

Pleasant surprise

News of the victory, his first at the Commonwealth Games, didn’t instantly filter through to Swan as he revealed his shock at the result.

“Honestly, I thought I’d come third,” he admitted to TNT Sports.

“So, I was like, ‘Oh, okay, third. It is what it is’. And then it was my coach who said, ‘Mark, you’ve won’. I was like, ‘What?’

“Because they hid it (the weight) on my second attempt, so I couldn’t see anything.

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“So all I had to do was whatever weight was on the bar, go out and lift it.

“And unfortunately the third lift was what it was, but I’d already won with the second. I didn’t have a clue.”

Swan won silver in the lightweight event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games behind Malaysian star Bonnie Bunyau Gustin.

The 25-year-old then took silver during the 65kg event at the 2024 Paralympics in Paris.

However, Swan has now surpassed his career medal achievements with his latest win, even if it wasn’t immediately made clear to him.

England have one gold medal thus far, with Olivia Broome winning bronze in the women’s lightweight para powerlifting.

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Tom Dean finished third during the men’s swimming 200 metre individual medley.

In addition, Matthew Redfern won bronze in the men’s 100 metre freestyle S13.