New Zealand has had a stunning first day at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games with three gold, three silver and a bronze medal won by the country's athletes.

It's double games gold for NZ cyclists. New Zealand track cyclists claimed four medals, two golds, a silver and a bronze, within quick succession during a special opening day in the velodrome.

The men's team won NZ's first Birmingham Commonwealth Games gold medal, beating England in track cycling's team pursuit by nearly two seconds.

Aaron Gate, Jordan Kerby, Tom Sexton and Campbell Stewart set a Games record of 3min 47.575sec.

Soon after, the women's team sprint of Ellesse Andrews, Rebecca Petch and Olivia King dominated Canada in a Games record of 47.425 seconds.

Earlier, the women's team pursuit - down a rider after Ally Woollaston was injured in the Tour de France - took silver in the gold medal race against Australia.

Andrews replaced Woollaston, but eased off early in the gold medal race to save her energy for the team sprint soon after.

Australia dominated the final, beating Andrews, Bryony Botha, Michaela Drummond and Emily Shearman by nearly six seconds.

And the New Zealand men's sprint team of Sam Webster, Sam Dakin and Bradley Knipe beat Canada to win bronze.

Gold and silver in swimming

New Zealand Paralympian Dame Sophie Pascoe has won gold in the women's S9 100 metre freestyle.

Dame Sophie Pascoe won gold with a time of 1:02.95 with Australia's Emily Beecroft coming in second.

Dame Sophie Pascoe is New Zealand's most decorated Paralympian. She has won a total of 20 medals across four Paralympian Games, including two golds, a silver and a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics last year.

She was made a dame last year for her services to swimming.

She made her international debut when she was 13 years old and when she was only 15 she won three golds and one silver at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games.

Dame Sophie has also been named Disabled Sportsperson of the Year on six occasions at the Halberg Awards and was named Para Athlete of the Decade in 2020.

And it's a silver medal for Jesse Reynolds in the Men's 100m Backstroke S9.

Hayden Wilde wins silver. Photo: The NZ Team.

Hayden Wilde wins silver in triathlon

New Zealand triathlete Hayden Wilde has lodged a protest after a 10-second time penalty cost him the chance of gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Wilde combined a strong swim and cycle, and led Olympic silver medallist Alex Yee of England by 16 seconds going into the final five kilometre run.

But he was penalised after unclipping his helmet before racking his bike at the final changeover, and had to stand down for 10 precious seconds in the penalty box as the pair entered the finishing straight level.

Yee won in 50 minutes 34 seconds, Wilde was second in 50min 47sec and Australian Matthew Hauser took third, just three seconds behind Wilde. Still only 24, Wilde has now won Olympic bronze and Commonwealth Games silver and is fast building an impressive career CV.

Wilde's teammates, Dylan McCullough and Tayler Reid, finished seventh and eighth respectively.

Despite Wilde's appeal to the penalty, the ruling was upheld.

New Zealand's featured events on day 1

CYCLING: GOLD MEDAL in men's team pursuit (Aaron Gate, Jordan Kerby, Tom Sexton and Campbell Stewart)
CYCLING: GOLD MEDAL in women's team sprint (Ellesse Andrews, Rebecca Petch, Olivia King)
CYCLING: SILVER MEDAL in women's team pursuit (Ellesse Andrews, Byrony Botha, Michaela Drummond and Emily Shearman)
CYCLING: BRONZE MEDAL in men's team sprint (Sam Webster, Sam Dakin, Bradly Knipe)
TRIATHLON: SILVER MEDAL for Hayden Wilde; Dylan McCullough 7th, Tayler Reid 8th
SWIMMING: GOLD MEDAL for Dame Sophie Pascoe in women's S9 100m freestyle
SWIMMING: SILVER MEDAL for Jesse Reynolds in men's 100m backstroke S9 final
SWIMMING: Mya Rasmussen seventh in women's 400 IM final
SWIMMING: Erika Fairweather fifth in women's 200m freestyle final
SWIMMING: Joshua Willmer seventh in men's backstroke S9 final
SWIMMING: Tupou Neifui eighth in women's 100m freestyle S9
RUGBY: Black Ferns sevens beat Canada 47-5; beat Sri Lanka 60-0
RUGBY: All Blacks sevens beat Sri Lanka 63-5
RUGBY: All Blacks sevens beat Samoa 19-17
HOCKEY: Black Sticks women beat Kenya 16-0
SQUASH: Lwamba Chileshe beats Feanor Siaguru (PNG) 3-0 in round of 64 men's singles
BOXING: Onyx Lye loses men's light heavyweight round of 32 match to Taylor Bevan (Wales) in a KO.

Click here for more results from Day 1

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