KIRANI James was the star of the fourth day's athletics at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The 21-year-old Olympic champion from Grenada controlled the 400m from the gun to come home a clear winner in 44.24 seconds. It was his country's first Commonwealth gold medal.
England had not been doing that well in the track and field before last night but another Olympic champion Greg Rutherford added the long jump title with a leap of 8.20m.
In contrast Canada picked up its third and fourth gold medals in two evenings with all-rounder Briane Theisen-Eaton winning the heptathlon and Derek Drouin scaling 2.31m to take the men's high jump title.
The Kenyans produced their second clean sweep of the medals in as many evenings with a 1-2-3 in the women's steeplechase. Although it was not until the final furlong that they managed to rid themselves of two tenacious Australians.
In the end the race went by the formbook with Purity Kirui triumphing in 9:30.97.
Northern Ireland's Kerry O'Flaherty ran a steady and sensible race to finish 11th in 9:55.94.
Notwithstanding Gladys Ganiel's brave run in the marathon on Sunday, there was finally a couple of performances by NI athletes to enthuse about yesterday morning.
Katie Kirk lined up for the fourth heat of the 800m knowing that she was ranked only sixth of the athletes on the startline and with only the first two assured of automatic qualification.
But undeterred, the 20-year-old QUB student proceeded to show a maturity well beyond her years and give a masterclass in tactics.
Going through the bell in fifth place, Kirk was content to sit off the pace until 200m to go when she moved into closer contention. Coming wide off the final bend, she accelerated down lane two to snatch a comfortable second place in 2:03.00 behind Kenya's Eunice Sum.
"I am really pleased," said Kirk. "That was a very tough race particularly as the World Champion was racing.
"My legs are really sore at the minute. We slowed up after the first lap but I felt comfortable even though the pace picked up towards the end."
Earlier in the opening event of the day, another 20-year-old Leon Reid turned in a mature performance to qualify as one of the fastest losers for tonight's 200m semi-finals with a 20.97 seconds clocking in third place.
"I ran really well for the most of the race but some great athletes just slipped away from me towards the end," he said.
"I might not yet be fully recovered from my accident a few weeks ago in Belgium where I collided with another athlete and was knocked out for a while.
"However, I am going in the right direction."
Reid and Kirk run their respective semi-finals this evening. Not so impressive was Jason Harvey who tamely exited the 400m Hurdles recording well outside his season's best.
Away from Glasgow another Irish athlete is to receive a medal albeit a little late. Rob Heffernan has been informally told that he is to be elevated to third spot in the 20K Walk at 2010 European Athletics Championships following the disqualification of Russia's Stanislav Emelyanov.
* GOLD: Grenada's Kirani James celebrates his gold medal in the 400m
* REID ALL ABOUT IT: Northern Ireland's Leon Reid during his 200m heat in Glasgow yesterday