Commonwealth Games live updates: Jess Hull competes in mile heats, track cycling program begins

We’ve seen some very impressive times recorded on the athletics track at Scotstoun Stadium, and a number of athletes have commented about how it’s a “fast track”.

We asked Australia’s new men’s 100m record holder what exactly that means. He said it’s hard to describe without the experience of running on a bunch of surfaces, but:

“It just feels super responsive,” Lachlan Kennedy said.

“You put your foot down and your foot just sort of bounces back up; the more you give into the track, the more it gives back.

“It’s like running on sand vs running on grass, that’s obviously exaggerated, but sort of imagine it like that. Some tracks feel closer to grass and others feel like you’re sinking into the track a little bit.”

The Sportflex Super X 720 track contains technology that was first used at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where four world records were recorded.

According to manufacturers: “It is softer, with elliptical-profile air cells that return energy to the athlete more efficiently, helping improve performance. It was first pioneered at the Beijing 2008 Olympics which staged four world records and has been further improved.”

The track was only laid earlier this month and, while the temporary stands will be removed from Scotstoun, the track will be “gifted to the city”, according to organisers.

“Our investment will not only provide world-class facilities for the Commonwealth’s leading athletes, but it will also create a local legacy, strengthening opportunities for grassroots athletics post-Games,” Glasgow 2026 chief executive Phil Batty said.

Two Aussies in this one, Erin Normoyle and Tara Neyland.

Both of they are C4 athletes.

The C4 class is designated for athletes with lower limb impairments, missing limbs, or mild neurological conditions affecting coordination.

In this race, the overall positions are determined by factored time.

That means the C5 athletes times’ will stand as is, while there is a grading applied to the C4 athletes, who have a higher degree of impairment.

As with the team pursuit, the fastest two riders will race for the gold and silver medals, and the third and fourth riders will race for the bronze medal.

The Aussie pair of Corey Wedlock and Aaron Teys have claimed the first set  in their match up against Fiji 6-3.

It was tight until the fourth end, where Australia scored five shots. That, really, was the only difference between the two teams.

This looks like it will be a quality game!

The ladies are off and running in the 100m hurdles!

And Aussie Michelle Jenneke crosses the line third in her heat, with a time of 12.72s — let’s gooooo!

That means she has automatically qualified for the medal event, all without knocking over a single hurdle!

What a run, can’t wait to see how she does in tonight’s final.

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In the men’s javelin throw, Australia’s Cameron McEntyre has qualified for tomorrow’s final after finishing sixth in qualifying.

His throw of 78.91 was well short of his PB, but he’s done enough in tough conditions.

McEntyre spoke to the ABC afterwards:

“Everyone struggled with the wind and the temperature as well. Hopefully better conditions tomorrow and then push for a podium.”

That’s great racing from the Aussies!

Jessica Gallagher and her guide Jacqueline Mengler-Mohr took the lead straight away in their sprint and led from the front, holding off the fast-finishing English woman to claim a 2-0 win.

That’s very impressive.

They will face New Zealand’s Emma Foy and Jessie Hodges in the final.

Michelle Jenneke is representing the green and gold in the women’s 100m hurdles, underway now at Scotstoun Stadium.

Keep an eye on lane 5!

There are two heats tonight, Jenneke is in the second one, and the best of the best will advance to the finals later on day seven.

Jenneke is marking her fourth Commonwealth Games this year, having clawed her way back from a hamstring injury in 2024.

New Zealand struggled there in the final TT in that team pursuit, finishing +4.606 seconds behind the Aussies.

That means it will be England vs Australia in the men’s final.

Gosh, that was scary to watch.

Aussie weightlifter Ridge Barredo gave the clean and snatch his all, but his hopes of a medal in Glasgow have been dashed.

He was on his third and final attempt of the 190kg, but lost his balance in the adjustment and fell to the ground clutching his knee.

Barredo was down for a bit as officials checked his condition, but was able to walk off the stage — so that’s a good sign!

He’s icing the injury now, I hope he’s alright…

Commonwealth Games organisers have ordered a re-race of the women’s T54 1,500m final.

It will be held at 10:24am BST on Friday (7:24pm AEST).

The race was thrown into chaos when Aussie Eliza Ault-Connell went down heavily in a nasty crash with world champion Noemi Alphonse.

Canadian Nandini Sharma was disqualified for causing the crash, as she went on to finish second.

Athletics Canada said it was “disappointed” in a statement.

“Having considered the multiple appeals that were submitted the Jury has decided that the disqualification will stand. While Athletics Canada is disappointed with this decision, we accept the process and look forward to Nandini competing again in the T53/54 400m race.”

Ollie Bleddyn and Conor Leahy, in their golden bikes to signify them as Olympic champions in Paris, were at the back of the team to start.

James Moriarty and Blake Agnoletto are the freshies in the team since then, but they were 1 second down on England at the half way point.

They were 0.9 seconds behind the English at the 3,000m mark.

But with 500m to go the Aussies trailed by just under 0.3 seconds.

Leahy looked like he was going to drop off the back, but he held on and managed to beat England by over 2 seconds – averaging 62.943km/h.

The reason for that late blow out?

Josh Charlton of England dropped off the back of the group with 500 metres remaining and that badly impacted the team’s cohesion and speed.

The men’s javelin qualifiers are playing out now in Scotstoun Stadium, and Aussie Cameron McEntyre has just attempted his second attempt.

McEntyre made some slight adjustments after learning from his first throw of 72.43m, achieving a greater distance of 78.91 on the second go!

He’ll have a crack at the third attempt soon, let’s see if he can push up the ranks a bit further and qualify for tomorrow’s final!

Next up we have Corey Wedlock and Aaron Teys in the men’s pairs against Lal Chand Prasad and Surendra Prasad from Fiji.

The Aussies have won one from one.

In great news for Ellen Fife after her victory just now, the only woman above her in the section has just lost.

England’s Katherine Rednall won the first 6-5. But Canadian Kelly McKerihen claimed the second 8-5, forcing a tie break.

McKerihen was able to win the tiebreak.

It really opens the group up. Now Fife, McKerihen and Rednall have all won two, lost one.

It means it could easily come down to shots for/against.

That is very, very good from Jess Gallagher and pilot Jacqueline Mengler-Mohr.

They have beaten England’s Sophie Unwin and her pilot, Anna Whitworth-Hay in the first of their best of three tandem sprint semifinals.

It was an aggressive match up, with the Aussies forced to close the door hard on England with a lap to go.

There was something of an upset in the other semi as well, as New Zealand, the fourth-fastest qualifiers, beat England’s other pair.

Shows that speed isn’t everything in the sprint – you have to be tactically right too – and the Aussies and Kiwis were there, taking the race out from the front.

Defending gold medalist Ellen Fife has defeated Abbey Andrieux in two sets 12-5, 8-4 to keep the dream alive in the women’s singles.

Fife looked impeccable out there. And she took the chance to capitalise and improve her shots for/against.

She now sits second in the section behind Katherine Rednall who is currently in action and took the first set against Canadian Kelly McKerihen.

The men competing in tonight’s 110kg final at the SEC Armadillo will have three attempts each at both lifts.

They started with the snatch, which involves picking up the barbell with a wide grip and raising it overhead in one fluid motion.

The blokes have just finished off these attempts, with Barredo ready to take on the clean and jerk next.

In this lift, each athlete will bring the bar to chest height (clean), pause, then drive the weight overhead (jerk) with locked elbows.

For the clean and jerk attempt to count, the competitor must hold steady until the buzzer sounds.

The weights increase as the event continues, so athletes will need to be strategic about how much they attempt to lift in each stage.

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New Zealand looked for a moment that they would be able to overhaul the Australian team, then the gap opened up a bit to back over a second, but finally a surging final lap sees the Kiwis finish just 0.2 seconds behind the Aussies.

Have to say, I am very disappointed in Wales’s efforts there. I expected them to be right in the mix, but they were a very long way off.

On his third attempt at the snatch, Ridge Barredo managed to get the 162kg weight overhead but came off-balance and dropped the barbell before he could extend into a standing position.

The weight was 1kg heavier than he achieved at the Commonwealth Games qualifier, back in April.

England set a new Commonwealth Games record in the snatch tonight, but Fiji’s Taniela Tuisuva Rainibogi soon overtook it to set the record at 170kg!

The men’s 110kg weightlifting finalists have finished all of their snatch attempts, now we’re moving onto the clean and jerk.

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Good work from the Aussie quartet, Sophie Edwards, Claudia Marcks, Alyssa Polites and Felicity Wilson-Haffenden.

They have recorded the fastest time so far with just New Zealand left to ride, so will finish in the top two and will compete in the gold medal race later today.

Marcks led the team off and then dropped out just after the 2km mark.

Edwards looked like she was really having to dig deep to stay with the pace of the team, but the full-time medical student and national individual pursuit champion held on to record a sensational final time.