Commonwealth Games 2026, Evening Session, Thursday July 30: Second half full of promise
As the athletics programme rolls into the last couple of days, Team England’s squad looked to build on a strong start. Keen to lead by example, the team captain secured a fabulous bronze medal, while three Team England athletes moved on to three big finals in the days to come.
Thursday evening’s highlights
- 19.82 in the men’s 200 metres semis
- Team England gold in the men’s T12 100 metres
- 22.01 Games Record in the women’s 200 semis
- First ever women’s 5000-10,000 metres double
Women's 5000m Final
With three locked together at the bell, there were some fascinating questions to be answered over the next 400 metres. Would the leader, Scotland’s Meghan Keith (Ross Cairns, Inverness) hold off her two Australian rivals for a famous home country win? She had seized the initiative with a mile to go and split the field apart and it looked very possible.
But on her shoulder, she had the 10,000 champion Rose Davies and the 2000 metres world record holder Jess Hull. For one, Davies a win would make her the first ever 5-10 double champion in Games history. For another, Hull it would complete an amazing day where she had qualified for the mile final in the morning.
The three charged stride-for-stride down the back straight with Keith holding onto the lead as they hit the final bend. And it was there the two Australians kicked hard with 150 metres to run, leaving Keith to cross the line in third. Up front it was far from over as the pair duelled it out over the final, amazing 100 metres before Davies edged ahead to win the gold medal in 14:44.53
Frustratingly for Hannah Nuttall (Helen Clitheroe, Charnwood) she missed the Keith surge at 3400 metres, but easily closed fastest of all with 600 metres (ignoring the flying Australians) and finished fifth in 14:51.34. Her last 400 metres was 65.2, Keith’s 66.9.
Innes Fitzgerald (Gavin Pavey, Exeter Harriers) continued her fine season with her best time of the year, 15:02.80 to finish 11th.
Men’s Decathlon
The decathlon is often about negotiating the technical events without any drama, so it was great to see Lewis Church (David Hull, Tonbridge) and Sammy Ball (Rafer Joseph, Reading) both handle the high jump comfortably. Church and Ball both needed a couple of attempts at 1.97 before they called it a day at 2.00. For Ball, it was a season’s best at exactly the right moment, and it kept him very much in the medal hunt.
Next up was the 400 metres, the traditional close to day one. Once again, Ball was superb, winning his heat in another season’s best of 48.86. Church fought hard for his 51.74, all of which meant the pair headed back to the team hotel occupying third and seventh respectively.
“It’s amazing to be here in Glasgow. Even the hotel is great,” said Church. “Today was all about good performances and bad execution. I felt I had more but that’s all I had,” he continued, explaining how important his club Tonbridge is to him.
Men's Shot Final
Team captain Scott Lincoln (City of York) and the bronze medallist from four years ago, opened his account with 20.70 and immediately settled into the silver-medal slot.
He moved to Melbourne, Australia after the Paris Olympics in a bid to give it all one more go. And swapping working on a building site for the sun and facilities of Australia is clearly paying dividends. Beforehand, the team captain shared some of his wisdom with his teammates.
“Once you're at a Games, it's easy to get carried away and try to force yourself up a level. I need to remember that what got me here is what matters – that's what I need to recreate to perform here.”
His second round 20.99 demonstrated exactly that philosophy. Solid rather than spectacular he suddenly found himself just 4cm behind the red-hot favourite, New Zealand’s Tom Walsh.
Then in a fabulous final two rounds, first Nigeria’s Chukwuebuka Enekwechi edged into the lead thanks to his fifth round 21.07. Walsh responded with a monster 22 metre-plus effort that smashed the cone marking the edge. No throw. Lincoln remained consistent but it would down to round six to determine where the medals were heading. Lincoln’s final throw hit the marker tape at 21 metres, but it was measured at 20.93. Walsh came up short and we had a new champion in the shape of Enekwechi.
“I was so close, but sport is fine margins. I’m very happy with how I held myself there and I honestly thought I would win it. I did leave everything out there and eventually you will hit one, but today I didn’t,” Scott said.
“It was a privilege to be voted as team captain; hopefully I’m a good team leader and hopefully someone gets inspired by my speech.”
Men's 100m T12 Final
Starting as favourite comes with its own unique stress and Team England’s Zac Shaw, T12 (Leon Baptiste, Cleethorpes) admitted he was very nervous before the start because of his status. The No.1 and the only man under 11 seconds in the field overcame those worries within a few strides as he powered to 10.89. The Commonwealth title was the one he wanted and now he’s done it.
“That feels good. I’ve been thinking about this every single day and now this is the first time I’ve actually won anything,” said Shaw.
“I was nervous, and it definitely wasn’t a perfect race. I really had to work hard to get those fine details right. But I’ve worked so hard this year; I’m just so happy,” he said, paying tribute to his club, coach and mother.
“Part of my grief journey [his mother passed away last year] was to win this medal.”
Women's Triple Jump Final
Dominca’s first and only Olympic champion, Thea Lafond was the name to watch in this one. Her first-round effort of 14.52 confirmed that. Behind her, Georgina Forde-Wells (Lukasz Zawila, Woodford Green and Essex Ladies) jumped 13.70 which put her fourth. Ordinarily that’s not an issue for the four-time UK Champion with five rounds to go, but a slight niggle hampered her, and she passed her next attempt. Up front, Lafond stretched further away with 14.59 and finally 14.60 in the fourth round. Forde-Wells registered only more mark, a 12.97 in the third round.
Women's 200m Semi-Finals
In a three-way photo finish where the first two qualify, Success Eduan (Anita Richardson, Sale) frustratingly third in 22.65. At 197 metres she had the race won, but her two closest rivals lunged past her on the line to nick it by a couple of thousandths of a second. The small consolation was she got to wait in the hot seat to see if anyone would run faster than her.
Adejah Hodge from the British Virgin Islands beat the Games record in the next heat with 22.01 but the good news for Eduan was, she was far, far ahead. One down, one to go. The final heat was slow enough which meant she made the final as the fastest non-auto qualifier.
“I’ve never sat in the hot seat before, so that was tough,” she said afterwards. “I’m running for a medal, so we’ll see how I feel.”
Men's 800m Semi-Finals
In a thrilling first semi, Alex Botterill (City of York) ran pretty much the perfect race. Close to the leader through 400 metres in a tick under 51 seconds, he covered all the moves and held off Team England teammate Ben Pattison (Dave Ragan, Basingstoke and Mid Hants) in the final few metres. Botterill qualified automatically in third with 1:45.39 while Pattison had to wait in the non-auto qualifier hot seat. It was a short wait. The next race was a touch slower and through he went.
However, Max Burgin (Halifax Harriers) led through 400 metres in 50.3 but in a chaotic final 100 metres, he slipped to fifth and out. He ran 1:45.61 to miss out by a few hundredths of a second.
Men's 200m Semi-Finals
For many, Zharnel Hughes’s (Glen Mills, Shaftesbury Barnet) ultra-relaxed 20.45 in yesterday’s qualifying round didn’t say too much about his form. However, a tired looking final 40 metres in the semis revealed much more. Well positioned off the bend, the British record holder with 19.73 had nothing to offer and crossed the line in sixth in 20.67.
Home countries athletes making the headlines
Wales’s Justin Davies (Martin Rush, Team Bath) ran a season’s best of 1:45.51 to earn himself a spot on the hot seat reserved for the non-auto qualifier. But the second semi was the faster race and he didn’t get through to the final.
Scotland’s Callum Newby (Matt Cullen, Edinburgh) ended his day as it started – with a controlled, strong looking sprint. He clocked a personal best of 48.59, moving from fourth to first in the final 80 metres. That put him sixth after day one.
And as reported above, Megan Keith won Scotland a bronze medal in the women’s 5000 metres. Beforehand she said she wanted to give the crowd something to cheer about and she did that with a fabulously brave run leading for the final mile.
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