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Key events
Summary
Here’s what has happened so far on day eight in Glasgow …
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Melanie Woods wins gold for Scotland – again. Her T54 1500m was rerun after appeals were lodged following Wednesday’s first race, but the Scot repeated her victory before also making through to the 400m final later on.
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Controversy in the decathlon as defending champion Lindon Victor has his best discus throw chalked off after an incorrect measurement. The Grenada athlete has gone into the overall lead during the pole vault anyway.
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Wales’ Emma Finucane is up against Olympic champion Ellesse Andrews in the quarter-finals of the women’s sprint in the velodrome and leads 1-0 in the best-of-three tie.
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Kaci Rock, daughter of former Irish boxer Jim Rock, is through to the final of the women’s 65kg division after beating Caitlin Ramsey in a thriller.
Athletics: Lindon Victor’s first attempt at 4.60m in the decathlon pole vault ends with him bringing the bar down with his feet and perhaps landing awkwardly. He hobbles away from the mat and throws his pole to the side. The defending champion from Grenada could do with a clearance at this height to lift him into provisional gold before the javelin – one of his preferred events.
Sammy Ball of England goes into provisional silver by clearing 4.60m at the second attempt. Damian Warner of Canada, who was leading the standings, has already bowed out of the pole vault. Victor replaces him in top spot by clearing the 4.60m bar at the second attempt.
Cycling: Oliver Bleddyn goes one better than his Australia teammate James Moriarty, whose individual pursuit Commonwealth record lasted about 15 minutes. Bleddyn knocked another second and a half of that at 4min 4.132sec.
Athletics: The pole vault of the decathlon is keeping Scotstoun Stadium entertained. Clear at 4.50m so far are Lindon Victor (defending champion), Sammy Ball (currently 3rd), Lewis Church, Jami Schlueter and Max Attwell. Overall leader Damian Warner fails at his third attempt at 4.50m and that gives those chasing an opportunity to close the gap. Tejaswin Shankar (currently 2nd) has gone clear in his first attempt at 4.10m.
Cycling: A Games record falls in the men’s 4000m individual pursuit qualifying as Australia’s James Moriarty posts a time of 4min 5.677sec, taking a couple of seconds off Aaron Gate’s previous record from 2022. England’s Charlie Tanfield also goes quicker than Gate’s old record, but not the new one, in the next pairing.
Josh Charlton, a world silver medallist in the pursuit two years ago, is unlikely to make the medal races now. There are reports of an illness in the England camp.
Athletics: Lindon Victor isn’t giving up on his decathlon title, posting a season’s best in the pole vault by going clear at 4.40m. Sammy Ball of England, in provisional bronze, does the same.
TNT Sports find Ball’s dad, Lincoln, in the crowd. He’s asked if the Ball family have been able to see much of Glasgow this week. “I spent two hours yesterday getting him a nice warm coat because he didn’t bring one. It’s been pretty chilly,” he replies.
Netball: Tonga have beaten Wales 63-53 to secure 9th place in their first Commonwealth Games. Afternoon fixtures coming up include Malawi v Scotland for 7th place and South Africa v Uganda for 5th.
Athletics: In the decathlon, Grenada’s defending champion Lindon Victor – hard done by in the discus earlier after his best throw was measured incorrectly and chalked off – goes over in his second attempt at 4.20m in the pole vault.
Of the athletes in the medal positions, Damien Warner (Canada) and Sammy Ball (England) have got points in the bag. Tejaswin Shankar (India) is yet to jump.
Cycling: Sophie Capewell (Eng) and Rhianna Paris-Smith (Eng) get themselves on the board with wins in their quarter-final first runs. The fourth tie sees Rhian Edmunds try a track stand on Scotland’s Lauren Bell, where both riders come to a complete standstill and, well, stare each other down. Once they both get up to full speed, the Scot tries desperately to hold off a late challenge from the Edmunds, who eventually takes it on the line by eight-thousandths of a second!
The second runs come after qualifying for the men’s 4000m individual pursuit.
Cycling: Emma Finucane 1-0 Ellesse Andrews. It’s best of three now we’re at the quarter-finals of the women’s sprint.
Finucane heads out in front and keeps a close eye on Andrews as they roll around the first lap. As they cross the line, Finucane lets her go past and they up the ante. Finucane is on her shoulder at the bell and slips past her on the first bend. It’s a straightforward first run for the Welshwoman.
Athletics: Nandini Sharma of Canada, who was disqualified in that controversial and eventful 1500m T54 race two days ago, has made it into the final of 400m after coming third in the second heat won by Mauritius’s Noemi Alphonse, who she cut across on the first bend of that 1500m race. They’ll have to find a way to beat Scotland’s Mel Woods tomorrow evening.
Cycling: After Katy Marchant (Eng) edges out Molly McGill (Aus) in the women’s sprint, the final last-16 tie is between Olympic champion Ellesse Andrews (NZ) and Alessia McCaig (Aus). Andrews shows her class by surprising McCaig early on the final lap, moving past her on the bend, and easing across the line.
Andrews must now go again – she might not even get off the bike – in the quarter-finals against Emma Finucane. Andrews beat Finucane in the semi-finals of the Olympics two years ago. Time for revenge?
Athletics: Mel Woods, who won gold in the rerun of the women’s T54 1500 earlier this morning, eases through in her heat of the 400m. The Scot is looking to do the double this week – that final is in the final evening session on the track tomorrow. Marie Desirella Perrine of Mauritius and Eliza Ault-Connell of Australia are also through from that heat.
Cycling: The women’s sprint last-16 match-ups continue as England’s Sophie Capewell just pips Malaysia’s Nur Alyssa Mohd Farid to the line by 0.05sec. Her England teammate Rhianna Parris-Smith is also through after seeing off NZ’s Olivia King. Lauren Bell then sends the home crowd wild with a battling victory over Lowri Thomas of Wales, holding off a late challenge to win by the length of a wheel – if that.
Athletics: Ben Jefferies runs an excellent third leg for England to set up Laviai Nielsen to glide home ahead of Kenya’s Mercy Okech in the second heat of the mixed 4x400m relay. Georgina Adam comes through in third for Scotland to book their place in the final. India and Zambia will also be there as fastest losers. That is tomorrow evening.
Cycling: England’s Josie Knight and Wales’s Anna Morris will contest the gold medal in the women’s 4000m individual pursuit after topping the qualifying standings out of 18 riders. Scotland’s Erin Boothman and Australia’s Felicity Wilson-Haffenden will contest bronze. Those finals are this afternoon.
Emma Finucane of Wales is safely through to the women’s sprint quarter-finals after coming past New Zealand’s Rebecca Petch on the final lap after some cat-and-mouse riding until then.
Athletics – 4x4oom relay: Delano Kennedy does well for Jamaica in the opening leg from lane eight before Australia’s Mia Gross leads from front after the lane break. Cooper Sherman and Samuel Ogazi go well clear for Australia and Nigeria on leg three, with Patience George seeing off Jemma Pollard on the final sprint. Jamaica come through in third to qualify as well. Zambia and Sri Lanka will have to wait to see if they have progressed as fastest losers.
Athletics: We’ve got a Commonwealth Games first on the track at Scotstoun Stadium with the mixed 4x400m relay. Two men and two women per team, with the men going off first and the women bringing the baton home. Jamaica, Australia and Nigeria are in the first of two heats – the first three qualify automatically for the final and there are two fastest-loser slots too.
Athletics: Some major controversy in the decathlon now, with the defending champion Lindon Victor (5th in the overall standings) told his first discus throw was measured incorrectly. It was massive (56.07m – a Games record) and would have given him the overall lead in the decathlon.
Victor has been told to throw again, but he falls outside of the circle and it’s a foul. As a result, his best throw of 53.52m only takes him third in the overall standings with three events to go.
We’ll see if the Grenada team lodge an appeal because that has major ramifications for the rest of the event, given Victor’s strength in the throwing events.
Athletics: England’s Jazmin Sawyers has qualified automatically for the women’s long jump final after recording a distance of 6.80m in her final jump in Group A. Her teammate Lucy Hadaway joins her in the final after reaching the qualification standard as well. The best 12 athletes head through, with Group B to come in a bit.
“I dug deep,” Kaci Rock tells TNT Sports.
After the first round, I knew I needed to stick to the plan. I was a little bit overwhelmed but we’re here now. This is something I’ve dreamed about for years, so to be here is amazing. But we’re not finished yet.
She will face either England’s Sacha Hickey or Australia’s Eve Elizabeth Bryson, who have done their ring walks, for gold tomorrow in the 65kg category.
Boxing: Kaci Rock (NI) beats Caitlin Rainey (Sco) to reach women’s 65kg final!
After edging the first round, Rainey continues that momentum into the second round, the Glasgow crowd cheering every hit. But Rock fights back in the 30 seconds before the bell, landing a great left hook, to close the points gap to two with the final round remaining. Rainey tries to turn the screw in the final round but it gets a bit messy as both fighters get tired. Both swing like crazy in the final seconds before the bell and when it sounds they both embrace.
It’s too close to call, but the referee raises Rock’s glove! She wins on split decision and will fight for gold around this time tomorrow. Rainey must settle for the bronze final.
Boxing: Scarlett Savannah Delgado of Canada and Preeti Preeti of India will contest the women’s 54kg final after winning their respective semi-finals. England’s Lauren Mackie and Zambia’s Catherine Mwape will fight for bronze.
Up next it’s a 65kg home nations derby between Kaci Rock (Northern Ireland) and Caitlin Rainey (Scotland). Rock is the daughter of the former Irish boxer Jim Rock (the only man to hold Irish titles in four different weight divisions) and idolised Katie Taylor growing up. Initially her father tried to dissuade Rock from taking up boxing. “Sometimes when your mum and dad tell you you can’t do something, you want to do it more and I think that’s what happened,” she told BBC Sport.
Cycling: It was an interesting day in the velodrome yesterday as Australia won men’s team sprint gold ahead of England in the final event of the evening. That was an opportunity for Australia to take a pop at Matt Richardson, who switched allegiance to Great Britain after the 2024 Olympics but did not compete for England at these Games owing to injury …
Cycling: Emma Finucane’s bid for more medals has begun well this morning in the velodrome – she topped the women’s sprint qualification standings for Wales, an event she won Olympic bronze in two years ago. The 2024 Olympic champion from New Zealand, Ellesse Andrews, was only 9th fastest but is still safely through.
Other big names through are England’s Katy Marchant and Sophie Capewell, plus Lauren Bell of Scotland. Ellie Stone missed out on the top 16 by three-hundredths of a second.
The quarter-finals are coming up in around an hour and a half.
“Luckily, I am pretty chill,” says Melanie Woods on TNT Sports as she talks about how she has dealt with the rerun of a race she initially won gold in.
It was going back and forth all night. It was only like 12 o’clock on the night that we found out it was going to be re-run but we don’t know when.
You’re trying to stay calm and stay chill – luckily, I am pretty chill. So, I’m like: ‘It is what it is.’
I’m glad those girls were able to come out and get a fair race, be able to show what shape they’re in. I just had to remain confident that I could do it again.
Athletics: It’ll be a tough one to take for England’s Ellis Kottas and Australia’s Mikaela Dingley who came away with silver and bronze after Wednesday’s original race but leave today empty-handed. Kottas finished 4th, 23sec out of the medals, and Dingley was over a minute slower in last.
Woods gets to win it twice in front of a home crowd in Glasgow. She’s got about an hour and a half to prepare for the 400m heats. Alphonse wins Mauritius’s first medal of these Games.
🏅 Melanie Woods (🏴) wins replay of women's T54 1500m
Athletics: Melanie Woods leads from the start, with Noemi Alphonse and Eliza Ault-Connell following in her slipstream in a breakaway group. The Australian falls behind with 600m to go, with Alphonse sticking behind Woods as they go past the bell. Alphonse launches an attack on the final bend but Woods sees it off and crosses the line in a Games record – just like she did on Wednesday.
Athletics: Up next is the rerun of the women’s T54 1500m, with Scotland’s Melanie Woods trying to repeat her win in the controversial original race on Wednesday.
The race goes ahead without Canada’s Nandini Sharma, who was disqualified after a pile-up on the first bend. Sharma cut across Mauritius’s Noemi Alphonse and was disqualified after the race. Appeals were lodged and the race will now be replayed …
Athletics: Action on the track has started with the heats of the 110m hurdles in the decathlon. Canada’s Damian Warner has extended his lead at the top of the overall standings with the best time of all 16 athletes (14.04sec). A good time from England’s Sammy Ball (14.61sec) keeps him in third place with four events to go.
Overall standings (top five)
1. Damian Warner (Canada) – 5322pts
2. Tejaswin Shankar (India) – 5261
3. Sammy Ball (England) – 5146
4. Jami Schlueter (Nigeria) – 5099
5. Lindon Victor (Grenada) – 4941
Netball: Northern Ireland are on course to finish 11th in the netball final classification – they lead 65-28 in the fourth quarter against Trinidad and Tobago in that placing final. Places 5th-12th will be decided today, with the semi-finals tomorrow and the final on Sunday.
Tomorrow
Semi-finals: New Zealand v England (9am), Australia v Jamaica (1pm)
Sunday
Bronze final (9am)
Gold final (1pm)
Preamble
Hello and welcome to day eight of the Commonwealth Games. It’s all coming to a head in Glasgow with a raft of medal events and finals across all sports – the highlights being the women’s 800m and both 200m finals in the athletics, the sprint events and men’s Keirin in the cycling, and semi-finals and finals in boxing and judo. The medal ceremonies will be coming thick and fast.
At the morning session at Scotstoun Stadium we have the continuation of the decathlon, plus some relays and the rerun of the women’s 1500m T54 final. In the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome we’ll pedal through a few rounds of sprint qualifying and the start of the individual pursuit. There are also more bowls (there’s always bowls) and netball placing finals.
Whether you’re just waking up, following from work or settling in for the evening, join us – and get in touch via the email link at the top of the page.
