FORMER Newent Community School pupil Vicky Holland secured bronze in the women's triathlon at the Commonwealth Games.

English team-mate Jodie Stimpson won the first gold of the games ahead of silver medallist Kirsten Sweetland from Canada.

The leading group of six began to splinter towards the end of the penultimate lap of the 10-kilometre run as Stimpson took the lead.

As the contenders fell away, only Holland and Sweetland could stay with her.

Holland, 28, dropped off a few hundred metres from the line, leaving Stimpson and Sweetland to fight it out.

Almost within sight of the line, Stimpson made her break and the 25-year-old from Oldbury in the West Midlands pulled away to take victory.

The England trio pushed the pace on the 1.5-kilometre swim in Strathclyde Loch with Lucy Hall coming out of the water first ahead of Holland and Stimpson.

They formed a leading group on the bike with Northern Ireland's Aileen Reid and New Zealand's Nicky Samuels but before long the chasers caught up to form a pack of 10 that included all the main challengers.

It stayed that way until the latter stages of the fourth lap when Hall made her break and initially opened up a decent gap but by the time they finished the 40km ride they were all back together.

Gloucester-born Holland set out first on the run but Stimpson quickly moved to the front to push the pace and start reducing the pack.