Golden girls nail pool clean sweep

After a slightly lacklustre start on day one, the Aussie girls turned up the heat in the pool last night claiming two clean sweeps among other honours.

Danni Miatke, Jessicah Schipper and Alice Mills were the first show in the water in the women's 50 metres butterfly and the first to the finish line as Australia claimed gold, silver and bronze to the delight of a roaring crowd.

Miatke scorched lane five in a Games record time of 26.43 seconds, shaving .34 off Jessicah Schipper's Games record in the heats on night one of competition.

Melbourne local Miatke touched the wall ahead of Schipper while Alice Mills had to share the bronze medal with South Africa's Lize-Mari Retief. Speaking after he race, silver medallist Schipper said she was “happy with that start to the week.”

Matt Welsh wasn't on the pace in the Mens 50 metres backstroke final that followed as he swam fourth and out of medal contention.

But while the men are still finding their feet in the pool, it was the girls again who shook the grandstands at the Aquatic Centre.

Liesel Jones, Jade Edmistone and Tarnee White took to the blocks in the 50 metres breaststroke final and the trio finished in the same formation as Jones touched first in 30.55 seconds to thunderous cheers. Edmistone had qualified fastest in the heats but Jones hit the accelerator to motor past her team mate and White in the final 25 metres.

Jones was not expected to win Edmistone's pet event and acknowledged her teammate after the race. “I guess I just expected Jade to win as she is the queen of the 50,” Jones said. “It's pretty exciting ... I'm comfortable with the result and I trust my coach.”

After making their way onto the dias, the girls were presented with their medals by visiting US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice.

The shock of the night was the disqualification of Australian Jim Piper in the semi finals of the 100 metres breaststroke. Piper was disqualified for an illegal dolphin kick in the final 25 metres and is now excluded from competing in the final. Piper was disqualifed for the same offence in the 200 metres breaststroke at the Athens Olympics.

The evening's racing closed with the womens 100 metres freestyle semi finals where Alice Mills and powerhouse Jodie Henry won their respective races.

AUSTRALIAN MEDALS:

Women's 50m Butterfly- Gold- Danni Miake, Silver- Jessicah Schipper, Bronze- Alice Mills

Women's 50m Breaststroke- Gold- Liesel Jones, Silver, Jade Edmistone, Bronze- Tarnee White.

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