On a night of spite and might in Glasgow, England’s Amy Hunt had to settle for 100m silver as New Zealand’s Zoe Hobbs ran the race of her life to take Commonwealth gold.
- Relentless rain soaked the Scotstoun Stadium, halting field events and pausing the women's high jump for nearly 90 minutes.
- Emmanuel Eseme seized men's 100m gold in a Commonwealth record 9.83, with Lachlan Kennedy silver and an Australian record 9.85.
- Ky Robinson won 10,000m gold in 27:48.93; David Mullarkey secured bronze, the Isle of Man's first Commonwealth track and field medal.
The filth and unrelenting fury of the rain had left the track sodden and conditions far from ideal, but Hobbs ran a huge personal best of 10.93sec from lane seven to take a surprise victory, with Hunt second in 10.98. Australia’s Torrie Lewis ran an Australia record of 10.99 to claim bronze.
True, this was nowhere near as deep a final as it could have been. Six of the 10 fastest 100m women this year come from the Commonwealth. None of them were taking to the blocks when the gun went off at 9.40pm. But that won’t bother Hobbs, who produced a sensational run to take victory.
Earlier, Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme defied Australia’s Lachlan Kennedy in the final strides to take gold in the men’s 100m.
For 95 metres of the race, Kennedy ran a stormer. But moments before the line he stuttered slightly, as Eseme charged from third to first to come through in a Commonwealth Games record of 9.83sec. For Kennedy there was a compensation of a silver medal and an Australian record of 9.85. Nigeria’s Kanyinsola Ajayi took bronze in 9.90, and Wales’s Jeremiah Azu was fifth in 10.03.
There was another gold for Australia minutes earlier as Ky Robinson sprinted clear to win 10,000m gold in 27min 48.93sec, ahead of India’s Gulveer Singh. Not far behind was the Isle of Man’s David Mullarkey, who won bronze – and his island’s first track and field medal at a Commonwealth Games.
But this day will live longest in the memory for the rain, which flitted from the heavy to the biblical and never really eased. The high jumpers looked particularly miserable when they were introduced to the crowd shortly before 6.30pm. No wonder, given the weather in Glasgow bore a closer resemblance to late October than the height of summer.
As the rain hammered down, some high jumpers sported umbrellas in between jumps. Others winter coats. The Indian Pooja Singh, the 19-year-old Asian champion, took even fewer chances. She wore a thick coat, a woolly hat and gloves.
Outside the stadium, the volunteers were joyously shouting: “No Scotland, no party” but – for the first time at these Games – no one was joining in. Unsurprisingly it was the field events that were affected most of all, with officials fighting a largely losing battle with their huge squeegee rollers designed to suck up water from the infield.
Eventually the women’s high jump was halted for nearly 90 minutes after the conditions turned for the worse. And while the women’s hammer did start on time, the wet weather affected some athletes’ grip.
The first thrower in the competition, Scotland’s Angela McAuslan-Kelly, found the protective net. So did Australia’s Stephanie Ratcliffe, who went second. No wonder there were ironic cheers when the third competitor to throw, England’s Charlotte Payne, found the field.
Things were better in the sprints, at least, with the new lightning fast Mondo track at the Scotstoun Stadium producing several very fast 100m semi-final times. Eseme was quickest to make the final in 9.89, with Kennedy running a lifetime best of 9.94 behind him.
However those in lanes one, two, and three in those semi-finals found themselves disadvantaged as their lanes were unprotected by the stadium roof – and so had to run through surface water.
England’s Elliot Jones seemed to be affected most of all as he bombed out after running 10.24 – nearly two-tenths slower than his time in the heat.
“There was water all over the lane,” said Jones, a part-time sprinter who works as football operations manager at Uefa. “When I got in the blocks I was pushing water out my lanes, then there was a false start and the water all came back. It’s a Scottish summer, isn’t it?”
Things didn’t get any better when the gun went off. “It felt like I couldn’t get any traction,” Jones said. “I didn’t feel like I was moving anywhere. It was freezing. Then we had a false start. We had to reset, and your nervous system’s up and down and up and down. It’s frustrating.”
Conditions had eased slightly by the time the women’s high jump resumed at 9.08pm. However, conditions were far from ideal and England’s Morgan Lake went out early having failed three attempts at 1.82m, her opening height.
