Joshua Jefferis, Prashanth Sellathurai, Samuel Offord, Luke Wiwatowski and Thomas Pichler have combined to win Australia’s first ever Commonwealth gold medal in the team’s event with a superb display at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.

Jefferis, Sellathurai, Offord, Wiwatowski and Pichler, who are all AIS athletes, competed well across the six separate disciplines – pommel horse, horizontal bars, floor, rings, vault and parallel bars – to win gold with a total of 259.05 points.

Heading into the last rotation Australia trailed gold medal favourites, England, but overhauled their arch rivals to win by 2.3 points. Canada claimed the final place on the podium.

It was another notable improvement by the Australian team that won silver behind Canada four years ago in Melbourne. Until Australia’s victory yesterday, Canada had won four gold medals in the event, while England had been the only other country to win gold, with victories on two separate occasions.

The gold medal was made even more significant by the withdrawal of one of Australia’s greatest gymnasts, Phillppe Rizzo, through injury prior to the event.

The victory in the team’s event will bring confidence into the squad ahead of the individual competitions later in the gymnastics program.