England's Tom Dean, James Guy, James Wilby and Brodie Paul Williams celebrate with the gold medals after the Men's 4x100m Medley Relay Final. Image provided by PA/Alamy.

Loughborough medal total reaches 30 after night of high drama

Loughborough’s 2022 Commonwealth Games medal haul continued to gather momentum after another incredible evening on Wednesday.

Its athletes once again impressed on the world stage in Birmingham by securing four more podium places to take the overall medal total to 30.

In swimming, Alumnus James Wilby completed a phenomenal personal meet at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre by winning gold – his second of the Games – in the Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay.

He helped England edge out Australia in a dramatic race as the crowd roared their approval with the home nation finishing a tight first.

Following the victory, he said: “It’s a really important race to us, we really enjoy doing relays. To be able to just pip the Aussies is really good. We’re all carrying a lot of fatigue but we put it in when it mattered.”

Earlier, in the Men’s 1500m Freestyle, current student Daniel Wiffen won silver for Northern Ireland after a brilliant swim.

The 21-year-old, who had told Loughborough Sport that he aimed to medal in Birmingham, recorded a stunning lifetime best and new Irish record of 14:15.79.

In a race of true endurance, he remained neck-and-neck with eventual winner Sam Short before the Australian began to pull away at 900m. Wiffen continued to battle hard to win a historic medal, touching the wall ahead of England’s Luke Turley in third.

He will now return home with his head held high as prior to Birmingham 2022, Northern Ireland had never won a medal in the pool.

In the same race, fellow Loughborough student Toby Robinson finished just outside the medals in fourth with a superb swim of his own.

daniel wiffen

Northern Ireland's Daniel Wiffen celebrates with the silver medal after the Men's 1500m Freestyle Final. Image provided PA/Alamy. ‌

In the final race of an exhilarating night, Loughborough swimmers recorded a brilliant bronze in the Women’s 4x100m Medley.

Current Geography student Lauren Cox, Loughborough-based Anna Hopkin, and the College’s Molly Renshaw (alongside Lauren Stephens) clocked 3:59.44 to overtake South Africa to make the podium and claim yet another medal for Team England.

Cox, who recorded a split of 1:00.72, said: “It has been such a good meet and the crowd has got everyone through it, they’ve been fantastic.”

Over in athletics, Loughborough’s night was capped off in perfect style as College graduate Daryl Neita clinched bronze in the Women’s 100m.

At a bouncing Alexander Stadium, Neita registered a personal best in the semi-finals with a time of 10.90 before hitting the podium in the final in 11.07.

She said: “It’s great to get a Commonwealth medal and I ran a PB [10.90] in the semi, so I’m in fantastic shape. I just need to perform better in these finals.”

Loughborough athletes have now won 11 golds, ten silvers, and nine bronze medals.

The dedicated 2022 Commonwealth Games website features all the latest news, videos, and medal tables from Birmingham.

Notes for editors

Press release reference number: 22/153

Loughborough is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.

It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme, named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2022 QS World University Rankings and University of the Year for Sport by The Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2022.

Loughborough is in the top 10 of every national league table, being ranked 7th in The UK Complete University Guide 2022, and 10th in both the Guardian University League Table 2022 and the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2022.

Loughborough is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’ and is in the top 10 in England for research intensity. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, Loughborough has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.

The Loughborough University London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.

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