Team England's Tom Bosworth has been beaten to gold in a dramatic finish to the men's 20km race walk at the Commonwealth Games.

The 28-year-old was one of the hot favourites coming into the event, which heralds the start of the athletics programme on the Gold Coast, but was forced to settle for silver as Australia's Dane Bird-Smith pulled clear in the final few hundred metres.

Bird-Smith and Bosworth had been locked together for the entire duration of the race, but the Aussie was able to kick it up a gear and increase his speed as the finish line approached, crossing in a Games-record time of 1:19:34.

Bosworth was only four seconds back, which represented not only a personal best but also a new British record over the distance.

Bronze went the way of Kenya's Samuel Ireri Gathimba, while Bosworth's teammate Callum Wilkinson finished seventh with a time of 1:22:35.

The main athletics programme gets underway at the Carrara Stadium later today with medals up for grabs in the men's hammer throw and men's 5,000m.