Phillips Idowu eyes triple jump gold medal in Glasgow

Phillips Idowu has insisted that his target is gold in Saturday's triple jump final after making a promising start to his Commonwealth Games campaign.

The 35-year-old recorded a jump of 16.70m in qualifying to safely secure his progress with the second-best effort of the evening at Hampden Park, and he is optimistic about recording victory when the action resumes in Glasgow.

"I wasn't sure how it would go tonight," Idowu, who returned to competitive triple jumping earlier this year following a long battle with injury, told reporters. "I hadn't jumped for a month or more but it was comfortable and I am looking forward to the final tomorrow.

"Hopefully I can execute it and stand on top of the podium like I have had many times before."

Nigeria's Tosin Oke qualified with a jump 5cm longer than Idowu's best effort on Friday.