Commonwealth Games: Guernsey's Alastair Chalmers wins 400m hurdles bronze

Guernsey's Alastair Chalmers won a historic bronze medal in the 400m hurdles at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The reigning British champion, 22, claimed the island's first ever athletics medal and the island's second at Birmingham 2022 after bowler Lucy Beere's silver in the women's singles.

Chalmers time of 49.97 was just under a second behind British Virgin Islands' gold-medallist Kyron McMaster.

Jamaica's Jaheel Hyde won silver in 49.78 seconds.

In a race which saw Canada's Malik Metivier disqualified for a false start, Chalmers started smoothly before picking up his pace in the final 200m to finish strongly and edge out Kenya's Wiseman Were Mukhobe for third place.

"I just couldn't believe it," Chalmers told BBC Guernsey.

"I gritted so hard down the home straight, the crowd were absolutely amazing, I heard them in the back of my head and I was like 'you've just got to go for it'.

"It was a tough race from lane two especially, so I just had to stay in the race and just commit and see what happened.

"It was a good fight down the home stretch, I knew one of them was probably going to fade, so I just gave my all and dug deep."

It is only the third time that Guernsey have won two medals at a Commonwealth Games since the island began sending a team in 1970.

Guernsey won silver and bronze in shooting in 1982 and two silvers in shooting and bowls four years later.

Beere's medal earlier this week was the first time a Guernsey athlete had been on a Commonwealth Games podium since Adrian Breton and Graham Le Maitre won 25m rapid fire pistol pairs bronze in 1994.

Chalmers was part of a five-strong Guernsey athletics team - his brother Cameron missed out on a place in the 400m semi-finals earlier in the week having been part of Team GB's mixed 4x400m relay squad at the Rio Olympic Games.

"To come out here and get a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games - and for Guernsey - it's just a dream come true," added Chalmers.

"I love representing Guernsey, even at the British Championships.

"It's lovely representing Great Britain, but Guernsey's where I'm from, it's who I am, so to give them a major medal of any colour is just a dream come true."

Robin Grey, BBC Channel Islands sports reporter

As the only athlete from a British country running in the final Chalmers had what felt like the entire crowd at Alexander Stadium backing him.

When he crossed the line you could see how much it meant not just to him, but also his family, friends and team-mates as they mobbed him in celebration.

These Commonwealth Games represent a high-water mark for Guernsey sport since the turn of the millennium.

While Lucy Beere's silver medal was perhaps a bit more of a surprise, many islanders were pinning their hopes on Chalmers.

But having got Covid-19 last month and only making it through the heats as a fastest loser, few would have thought he had enough in the tank to get a medal.

Kyron McMaster's winning time was slower than Chalmers' personal best that he set earlier this year - it begs the question of what might have been had Chalmers been fully healthy in the run-up to Birmingham 2022.