England's Joe Fraser won his third gold medal of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the men's artistic gymnastics parallel bars final on Tuesday, as teammate Giarnni Regini-Moran took his second silver of the day.
Fraser - who was crowned parallel bars world champion in 2019 - packed in the difficulty during his routine and only needed a small hop on his double front dismount with a half twist, in spite of his foot injury.
The 23-year-old's routine earned him a mammoth score of 15.000, which neither Felix Dolci nor Marios Georgiou were able to match in the opening rotation.
Wales' Brinn Bevan briefly lost his form early on, and while he landed his double front dismount with just a small pace forward, his score of 13.400 was not enough for a podium finish.
Penultimate parallel bars gymnast Ilias Georgiou of Cyprus harnessed all of his strength to prevent a fall and score 13.600, meaning Fraser would be guaranteed at least a silver medal before Regini-Moran's performance.
The Englishman - who was celebrating his 24th birthday - had already won silver on the vault a couple of hours beforehand but did not show any signs of fatigue whatsoever, taking just a small step on his double pike dismount.
Regini-Moran bettered Fraser's execution score and ended up with a total of 14.733, but Fraser's mammoth difficulty helped him finish atop the pile, as Marios Georgiou (14.533) clinched the bronze.
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In the women's balance beam final, neither Alice Kinsella nor Georgia-Mae Fenton could force their way onto the podium, finishing fourth and fifth respectively.
Fenton had a couple of slight wobbles on her double and triple spins and landed with her chest slightly down on her double-tucked back somersault dismount, but she navigated her routine without a single fall.
However, the Brit was just not able to match the performance of Australia's Georgia Godwin (13.433) and ended with 12.733 on the board before teammate and defending champion Kinsella sought to make amends on the beam.
Kinsella had taken a fall on the beam during the all-around competition and was extremely close to a similar mistake after her split leap with a half twist, but she fought hard to stay on the apparatus before landing her double-piked back somersault.
That major wobble was enough for Kinsella to usurp Fenton with 12.933, but all-around champion Godwin would continue to top the standings at the halfway point.
Wales' Jea Maracha performed a particularly clean routine to post a score with 12.666, edging above compatriot Sofia Micallef (12.500) in the process.
Godwin's compatriot McDonald was in disbelief after scoring 13.466 on the beam, which saw her go above her teammate by the finest of margins, and only Canada's Emma Spence could upset the apple cart.
Spence stuck her one-and-a-half twisting dismount, and her high execution score ultimately allowed her to edge into third place, pushing Kinsella out of the medals in the process.
It was one and two for Australia in the beam competition, as McDonald beat Godwin by 0.033 to take the Commonwealth title, with the latter winning her eighth Games medal since 2018.
Ben Knapton
