Australian Daniel Golubovic has come home like a train to win the silver medal in the decathlon at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

Golubovic ran from the front in the concluding 1500m, which he won by almost 20 seconds.

It lifted the 28-year-old up one spot to the silver-medal position, with countryman Cedric Dubler slipping to third after running out of gas in the 1500m.

The gold went to Lindon Victor from Grenada with 8233 points.

Golubovic tallied 8197, Dubler had 8030 and fellow Australian Alec Diamond was fifth overall with 7689.

Sprinter Ella Connolly’s decision to pull out of the 100m and focus on the 200m was vindicated when she finished second in her semi in 23.41 to qualify automatically for the final on Saturday.

“The qualifier was top two so I knew I had to run hard,” she said.

“I knew the girls had a really good back end so knew I had to go out hard and really work that first 100 metres.”

Fellow Australian Jacinta Beecher just missed out on a berth in the final after finishing fourth in her semi in 23.40.

As expected, five-time Olympic gold medallist Elaine Thompson-Herah from Jamaica was the fastest qualifer in 22.63.

London Olympics finalist Steve Solomon claimed the last available spot in the men’s 400m final on Sunday by finishing fourth in his semi in 46.30.

It shapes as a wide-open race, with little more than half a second separating the eight qualifiers headed by Englishman Mark Hudson-Smith (45.77).