Michelle Jenneke and Cameron McEntyre battle wind as Glasgow throws up all conditions

After rain blighted the first six days of the Commonwealth Games, Glasgow dialled up the dimmer on Thursday morning.

But a gorgeous, sunny, slightly brisk morning turned blustery and bleak by the time athletics competition was in full swing at Scotstoun Stadium.

It mercifully stayed dry as day seven’s heats and qualifiers kicked off, but the wind was wreaking havoc across the track and field.

Australian javelin thrower Cameron McEntyre was launching into a mighty headwind that saw none of the 17 throwers reach the qualification standard of 84 metres.

McEntyre got through on his 78.91m effort, but Kenya’s Julius Yego, boasting the fourth longest throw in the Commonwealth this year, missed out on qualifying for the final as he finished in 13th spot.

“Everyone struggled with the wind and the temperature as well. Hopefully better conditions tomorrow and then push for a podium [but] everyone’s in the same boat,” McEntyre said, crediting his thorough preparation at training for keeping him ready for a day like today.

“If it’s pissing down with rain or huge headwinds, whatever the conditions are, we just deal with it because we know one day there’s gonna be a competition that’s exactly the same.”

And while hurling a spear into a breeze that’s trying to throw it back at you might sound like the more dangerous prospect, Michelle Jenneke said her 100m hurdles with the wind at her back is a frightening experience.

“I get pretty jealous when I see the sprinters because you get a tailwind and you run fast, we get a tailwind and we’re like ‘let’s try not to die today’. The hurdles were really coming at us,” Jenneke said.

“I am just really really grateful we knew that was going to be a possibility and we really trained for it. It was tough today, towards the end I was really struggling to make sure I was hitting my stride pattern. But I think I did it really well, I did really safe and still managed to run quite fast.”

Jenneke clocked a time of 12.72 seconds, 0.05 of a second outside her personal best from two years ago, but this time with an illegal +4.3 metres per second tailwind.

“The wind was really pushing us onto the hurdles, it was a good time, though,” she said after progressing to the evening’s final as the sixth-fastest qualifier.

“Hopefully a little less windy [in the final] but I did really prepare for that tailwind and I think I handled it better than some of the other athletes.”

She certainly did, with Barbados’s Adeyah Brewster clipping the final hurdle and falling flat on her belly barely 6 metres short of the finish line.

National 400m champion Reece Holder experienced both sides of the coin in his single-lap semifinal, saying it was exactly what they expected when coming to Glasgow.

“Everyone’s running in the same conditions, so can’t really complain because everyone’s showing up to show out,” he said.

Holder, who suffered a hamstring injury in mid-May, missed the 400m final while teammate Tom Reynolds won his semifinal to progress.

“I actually only just put spikes on two weeks ago from May,” he said.

“So to come out here and run 45s, just be thankful for that and push forward for the future.

“I just don’t think I’m race fit. Big ups to everyone else out there putting on a show for everyone in these conditions, but I just don’t think I was there.”

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