The star gymnast Georgia Godwin has no more tears left to cry, having survived the “horrible, horrible” road back from injury to guide Australia to a team gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.

Meanwhile in the pool, Australia are turning the Tollcross Swimming Centre into a fortress after Sam Williamson, Sam Short and Mollie O’Callaghan led a parade of five gold medals on day two in Glasgow.

Godwin, 28, burst into tears as she became the nation’s most decorated women’s gymnast at the Games, with Australia leading from the outset en route to a final score of 158.400 points.

Canada trailed by 1.100 points for silver, while 2022 Birmingham champions England (154.300) claimed bronze at Glasgow International Arena.

Godwin won her ninth Games medal to surpass Allana Slater in the record books, bringing her haul to three gold, four silver and two bronze medals ahead of the individual all-around and apparatus finals.

“Sorry Allana,” Godwin said.

The breakout star of the 2022 Games, Godwin hit the ground running in her emotional comeback from a traumatic Achilles injury she suffered just three months before the 2024 Olympics.

She had ruptured the tendon in her left foot doing a round-off flick double pike while training a floor routine.

Nailing her floor exercise in Glasgow, the 28-year-old cried tears of relief and scored 12.850 points.

“It’s been a horrible, horrible road back,” Godwin said. “My support team have been absolutely amazing, but the mental challenges I’ve had to go through have been some of the – well, the hardest I’ve been through in my life.

“There were so many days where I’m like, ‘I can’t do this, I’m too old, I’m too sore. My Achilles would just never be the way it used to be’.

“But I want to finish this sport on my own terms.”

Asked what she told herself before she took to her first international floor routine since her injury, Godwin began to cry again. “I’m going to have no tears left by the end of this – I can do it,” Godwin laughed. “I did it for everyone that has helped me get back.”

Godwin will look to cement her legacy at the Games when she aims to defend her individual all-around and vault titles.

Already boasting three 2018 Gold Coast Games medals, Godwin had drawn level with Slater on eight medals in 2022 after winning uneven bars, balance beam and team all-around silvers.

Australia’s five-woman squad was unrelenting across the four apparatuses – vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor – to win the nation’s first team gold medal since the 2010 Delhi Games.

Five more gold in pool as Australian swimmers dominate

Sam Short and Sam Williamson have spearheaded another dominant night for Australia’s swimmers who secured five more gold medals in the Glasgow pool.

Mollie O’Callaghan threw aside “the unlucky stick” to win the 200m freestyle, Alex Perkins earned her first major individual crown in the 50m butterfly and Kyle Chalmers won a ninth gold in the mixed freestyle relay to home in on Games history.

Short led an all Australian podium of 1-2-3 in the 400m freestyle while Williamson downed British great Adam Ramsay-Peaty in a thrilling 100m breaststroke final.

A year ago, Williamson feared for his career after rupturing his patella tendon in training. The 28-year-old Victorian was a picture of emotion after Saturday’s race as he thanked his family, having beating world record holder Ramsay-Peaty who was consigned to turn .

“Mentally it was the toughest challenge I’ve ever had to face,” said Williamson, who forged through with a powerful second length to win in 59.17 seconds.

“Every single day I wanted to throw in the towel but I knew how far I’d come to get to that point.”

Short, who’s shooting for five gold medals in Glasgow, dominated the field by more than four seconds in 3 minutes 41.25 seconds before offering a muscle man celebration.

“It doesn’t come around too often and you’ve got to make the most of it,” said the Queenslander of his flex.

Behind the 22-year-old Queenslander there was a fierce battle as Elijah Winnington (3:45.56) pipped teammate Ben Goedemans by one hundredth of a second.

It was a formidable effort from Winnington, who revealed afterwards he’d spent most of the previous night over a toilet bowl after a bout of food poisoning.

Short said the sweep echoed the 400m free 1-2-3 in Birmingham four years ago when Winnington led home Short, with Mack Horton nabbing the bronze.

“It just goes to show the rich history of Australian 400m swimming and it’s super special,” said Winnington.

O’Callaghan, who’d anchored the women’s 4x100m freestyle-winning quartet the night before, picked up her second gold, showing no vestiges of the stress fractures and bone bruising in her back that had cast a cloud over her participation.

“Dealing with the injury currently is not the best thing ever, but as an athlete you’ve got to find ways to adapt,” said O’Callaghan, who stopped the clock at 1:54.66 to Lani Pallister’s 1:55.01, having always been in control.

“That’s the best part about sport – you get hit with an unlucky stick and then you’ve got to pick yourself back up.

“Doing modified training and adapting to that and seeing how I go off that, it’s just incredible.”

It was an emotional evening for Perkins, two days before her 26th birthday, as she took the butterfly dash in 25.37 seconds.

“I don’t even think I really believed that I’d ever be at this level so I’m just taking it all in,” beamed the Queenslander, who’d previously won four major individual medals but never made the top of the podium.

The Australian freestylers made it five golds as Flynn Southam, Chalmers, Shayna Jack and Meg Harris set a new Games record in the mixed relay, clocking 3:19.36 in a procession.

It’s left Chalmers on nine gold career Commonwealth Games medals, and if he can deliver another in the 100m freestyle, he’ll surpass Ian Thorpe as the most successful Australian men’s swimmer in the history of the Games.

Paralympic silver medallist Jack Ireland savoured another second-place finish in the 200m freestyle S14 final for Australia’s sixth medal in the para events in the pool.