Cape Town - South Africa's Sunette Viljoen could not repeat her Commonwealth Games heroics from Melbourne 2006 and Delhi 2010 as she claimed bronze in the javelin in the 2018 edition of the showpiece on Wednesday.

Viljoen, who finished second at the 2016 Rio Olympics and at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014, lost out to Australia's Kathryn Mitchell by some distance, while Kelsey-Lee Roberts made it a 1-2 for the host nation.

Viljoen's biggest throw on the night was 62.08m - no match for Mitchell's 68.92m.

Mitchell achieved that distance with her first throw and broke the Australian and Commonwealth Games records in the process.

Roberts, meanwhile, looked destined to settle for third until she claimed silver with a throw of 63.89m in her final effort to push Viljoen down to bronze.

Viljoen will pocket R15 000 for her efforts in what is likely to be her final Commonwealth Games appearance.