By Neil Silver, PA Sport

Steve Backley bagged an expected gold medal with his first throw of the javelin to secure his third Commonwealth title, while Mike East produced a major upset to win the 1500 metres.

Backley, the 33-year-old from Kent, opened the final with a flying hurl of 86.81 metres, which was comfortably enough to win the event by nearly 10 metres.

He was a class apart from the rest of the field and his closest challenger was Canadian Scott Russell, who took silver with 78.98m.

There was more joy for England in the event as Nick Nieland snatched bronze with his penultimate throw, which registered 78.63m.

Backley, an MBE since 1995, is firmly established as one of the all-time greats of the sport, and received tremendous support from the capacity crowd on the final night of competition in the City of Manchester Stadium.

The 6ft 5in thrower, with 11 medals to his credit before tonight from the four major championships, won Commonwealth gold in Auckland in 1990 and Victoria in 1994.

He also finished runner-up four years ago in Kuala Lumpur, but completed a hat-trick of golds without appearing to break sweat.

"When I saw that I was first to throw that was ideal for me," said Backley. "That told me that I needed to finish it off in the first round.

"It went to plan and that was enough. It was very difficult for me to lift myself after that first throw - even with this crowd.

"I hate coming in as favourite - you feel the pressure more - but I knew that if I pulled one out it would be enough and fortunately I managed to.

"It's the Europeans next and it's all systems go."

The surprise English performance, however, came on the track as 24-year-old East burst down the home straight to beat Kenyan favourite William Chirchir into second place with a personal best time of 3:37.35.

Reading-born East surprised himself with his performance, and admitted the best he had hoped for was a bronze.

"I have shocked myself," said East. "If anything I thought I could snatch a bronze. It's surreal but I am delighted.

"I knew I was capable of winning a major championship but I have been a bit off form and a little bit tired lately, so it is a cross between shock and ecstasy."

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