A horrific injury to English gymnast Gabriel Langton on Saturday morning (AEST) has stunned the Commonwealth Games on Day 1.
Langton had to be stretchered from the Glasgow International Arena after falling from the horizontal bar and landing on his head and neck, resulting in a 15-minute pause in men’s team final.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: English gymnast Gabriel Langton has sickening fall
The 19-year-old lay motionless on the ground for several minutes, but gave a thumbs up as he left the arena.
Langton had pulled off an impressive floor and rings routine to help put England in a position to defend their Birmingham title.
But the crowd fell silent as Langton came off the bar, shocking the commentators.
“Ooh, oohh ... goodness,” they said in disbelief as Langton crashed to the mats and landed on his head.
The scary incident put a dampener on Australia’s male gymnasts heroics.
The Aussies ended their 12-year medal drought at the Commonwealth Games, denying hosts Scotland in a tense finish to claim bronze.
With the hosts threatening to cause an upset heading into the final of six apparatuses, debutant Ritam Malik rose to the occasion with a brilliant pommel horse routine to help Australia secure a podium spot with a combined score of 235.650 points.
A near-flawless Canada team won gold (241.400 points), pipping 2022 Birmingham champions England by 3.150 points.
Australia’s men won their first team medal since their maiden gold at the 2010 Delhi Games, doing so with four debutants in the five-man squad.
Paris Olympian Jesse Moore was the only Australian man to have experience on the Games stage, leading Malik, James Hardy, Ben Foster and Tru Hagens.
Canada dominated from the outset, but Australia were on track for silver after Hardy led the way on rings (13.200), and Moore on vault (13.900) and parallel bars (13.500) for a strong start.
But a sub-par performance on horizontal bar — including a fall from Moore — opened the door for England to slip into second place after the fourth rotation.
With Scotland chasing a 7.100-point gap heading into the final rotation, pommel horse specialists Malik, Hagens and Moore proved their mettle to fend off the hosts
- With AAP
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