Aussies win sprint relay gold in 52-year first; athletics podium swept twice
Australia broke a 52-year drought as veteran sprinter Rohan Browning anchored the men’s 4x100m relay team to gold in astonishing, dream-like scenes at the Commonwealth Games on Sunday (AEST).
And the sprint relay triumph was one of seven gold medals won at the track and field in Glasgow, as Australian athletics revelled in its greatest day in Commonwealth Games history.
Rohan Browning, Josh Azzopardi, Lachlan Kennedy and Calab Law celebrate after winning the men’s 4x100m relay. Getty Images
Never before had Australia won as many as seven gold medals, and 17 medals overall, in athletics in a single day at the Commonwealth Games.
Previously, Australian athletics’ most fruitful day came at the 1950 edition in Auckland, where on one of the days a team featuring sprint icons Marjorie Jackson and Shirley Strickland won six gold medals and 11 medals in total.
Australia swept the track and field podium on two occasions on the final day of athletics action: first through Jemima Montag, Elizabeth McMillen and Rebecca Henderson in the women’s 10,000m race walk, then via Abbey Caldwell, Jessica Hull and Claudia Hollingsworth in the women’s mile.
But the crowning moment of the athletics team’s day was the sprint relay gold.
At the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, an Australian team consisting of Greg Lewis, Laurie D’Arcy, Andrew Ratcliffe and Graham Haskell secured gold in the men’s 4x100m relay.
At a sunbathed Scotstoun Stadium on the penultimate day of the Glasgow Games, Lachlan Kennedy, Josh Azzopardi, Calab Law and Browning, who ran in that order, hauled in Australia’s first Commonwealth Games gold medal in the event since 1974.
The team won in 38.07 seconds, ahead of Canada and Nigeria.
Anchorman Browning received the baton from Law with Australia clinging to the gold medal position.
The Olympic semi-finalist faced a task he later admitted terrified him: if Australia was to claim gold, he had to hold off Canadian sprint great Andre De Grasse.
The Canadian star anchored his country to gold in the 4x100m relay at the Paris 2024 Olympics. He is also a former 200m world champion, and has a 100m lifetime best of 9.89 seconds.
Gold medallists Lachie Kennedy, Joshua Azzopardi, Calab Law, Rohan Browning and heat runner Christopher Ius pictured during the medal ceremony. Paul Harding/Getty Images.
With a sprinter of that standing breathing down his neck, Browning held on to deliver Australia one of its greatest moments in sporting history.
Just four hundredths of a second separated gold medallists Australia and silver medallists Canada, with Nigeria finishing one hundredth of a second adrift of the Canadians.
“I don’t think I’ve ever run quite that scared in my life,” Browning told Seven.
“I mean, I knew we were in a good position, but I had no idea where the others were. I could hear the commentator call for Canada and I just ran for that line.”
Winning gold was a moment of redemption for Browning, who at the Birmingham Games four years ago tripped and fell while taking off for his anchor leg in the heats, ruining Australia’s race.
Unprompted, he recalled his devastation.
“I’ve had to carry the burden of that for the past four years,” the 28-year-old said.
“So I think this hopefully wipes the slate clean. It’s probably the most special moment of my career.”
Anchor runner Rohan Browning holds on to clinch gold for Australia. Michael Steele/Getty Images.
Another layer of this great Australian athletics story is the selection dispute fought between Azzopardi and Browning ahead of the Glasgow Games.
Azzopardi wasn’t picked for an individual 100m spot. Browning was, and Azzopardi appealed his relay teammate’s selection. His protest failed.
“[There was] the whole saga with myself and Ro obviously, but we’re best mates now and we’re going to have a few beers later on,” Azzopardi said.
Kennedy, the relay team’s lead runner, will leave Glasgow with a gold medal and a silver, having already finished second in the 100m four days earlier.
Marvelling at the shock relay gold, commentary legend Bruce McAvaney delivered precisely the right words.
“Thrilling, breathtaking, unforgettable,” he said on Seven.
Abbey Caldwell, Jessica Hull and Claudia Hollingsworth sweep the podium in the women’s mile. Getty Images
Caldwell snatches gold as Aussies sweep podium
Caldwell’s stellar season, which had already delivered a terrific 1500m win at the Xiamen Diamond League in May, extended to Commonwealth Games glory as she kicked to victory in a slow and tactical mile final.
Canada’s Lucia Stafford powered into the lead with 600m to go, breaking up the field and cranking up the pace of the race, before the three Australians hunted her down and swept the podium.
Caldwell, a superb kicker who won bronze in Birmingham four years ago, had too much pace for Hull – the 1500m silver medallist at the Paris Olympics – over the final 200m.
Hollingsworth, meanwhile, plucked her bronze medal from the fire.
The 21-year-old was at the back of the pack on the back straight of the final lap, before shooting past seven runners to nab a medal and complete the Aussie podium sweep.
They smiled and hugged and cheered, collected an Aussie flag each, greeted their coaches, and set off on a lap of the boutique stadium.
Hull won two silver medals in Glasgow, having already finished runner-up in the 5000m to Australia’s Rose Davies.
It’s a star Aussie trio. AP Photo/Kin Cheung
Silver for gutted Myers
Australian middle-distance prodigy Cameron Myers won silver in the men’s mile but so high are his standards that he was filthy with himself.
Scotsman Josh Kerr, the newly minted mile world record holder, pulled himself out of a poor position with 450m to go and burst away to win in 3:54.12.
Myers found himself in a tangle for just about the entire race, until he snuck past three runners over the final 150m to salvage silver.
Myers, who is still only 20, finished just over a second adrift of Kerr.
“I want to be challenging and the reality is that with 50m to go, he was five to 10 metres in front,” Myers, the under-20 world record holder in the mile, told reporters.
“It doesn’t even feel like I was racing him; I was racing the other guys. And I don’t want to be the best of the rest – I want to challenge for the win.”
Josh Kerr and Cameron Myers racing in the men’s mile final. AP Photo/Kin Cheung
A glorious athletics campaign
The athletics team’s final-day gold medallists were Matt Denny (men’s discus), Kurtis Marschall (men’s pole vault), Mackenzie Little (women’s javelin), Rhiannon Clark (women’s 200m T38), Caldwell (women’s mile), Montag (women’s 10,000m race walk), and the men’s 4x100m relay team.
Marschall completed a Commonwealth Games three-peat, while Denny successfully defended his discus title.
Montag won her third Commonwealth gold medal, adding to her wins in the 20km race walk in 2018 and the 10,000m event in 2022.
The team will fly out with 34 medals: 12 golds, 11 silvers and 11 bronze medals.
