Hollie Arnold knew nothing less than a world record would be enough to take Commonwealth Games gold – fortunately, the Paralympic champion never doubted her abilities for a moment.
Sat in second place with one throw to go, the Welsh F46 javelin thrower had watched New Zealander Holly Robinson take top spot with her own world best, registering 43.32m from her first throw.
But Arnold – who had started with an effort of 37.71m – always knew she could pull something special out of the bag on the Gold Coast.
She duly obliged, upping two metres from her then-best fifth throw as the scoreboard showed 44.43m, enough to smash her previous personal best by more than a metre.
“I gave it my all. I didn’t want her to take my world record off me and I wanted to win the gold.
“I knew it was there, it just didn’t click on the first few throws but on that last throw, I just gave it everything,” she said.
“I knew I was capable of doing that throw and I just executed it. Everything went well on that last throw.
“Holly and I are both great competitors and we both bring out the best in each other which is amazing for our sport.
“It was a battle out there. I knew that I could beat her and throw something like that.”
