Rose Davies wins 5000m, cyclists come to Aussies’ gold medal party

DAY 7 UPDATE:
Australia has passed the 50 gold medals mark, strengthening its spot at the top of the Commonwealth Games medal tally overnight.

Australia’s Rose Davies contributed to the team total by creating history as the first woman to win the 5000m/10000m double at the Commonwealth Games.

In an extraordinary battle with teammate Jessica Hull over the final 200m, Davies sprinted brilliantly to add the 5000m gold medal to her growing collection. Not that Hull looked worried – her beaming smile watching Davies take line honours has to be one of the best images of the Games.

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And they weren’t the only Aussie girls flying on day seven. Australia also made a swift start to the track cycling at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow by taking gold in the women’s 4000m team pursuit.

Georgia Baker, who was part of the Australian quartet that won the same event at Birmingham four years ago, replaced Sophie Edwards from the heats then teamed up with Claudia Marcks, Alyssa Polites and Felicity Wilson-Haffenden to win the gold medal race against New Zealand. The Kiwis led for the 2000m but after Marcks dropped off, Australia hit the front and powered away to win by more than two seconds at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.

Australian para-cyclist Tara Neyland broke her own world record twice in a day to win gold in the women’s C4-C5 4000m individual pursuit.

A triple world champion in track cycling and a double world champion in road cycling, Neyland lowered her C4 world record in the heats then went even faster in the final to capture the gold in a factored time of 4:46.414, nearly 20 seconds ahead of England’s Morgan Newberry, her opponent in the final.

Australia hit back against their sporting arch rivals England by winning gold in the men’s track cycling team sprint.

There’s a long rivalry between the two teams, so this was an especially sweet win for the Aussie sprint combination of Ryan Elliott, Leigh Hoffman and Daniel Barber at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome. The Aussies led after each of the three laps, crossing the finish line in 42.455 seconds – clocking an average speed of 63.5 km/h – to win by more than half a second.

DAY 6 UPDATE: KAI TAYLOR AND AUSSIE NEW ROYALS
The British monarchs may have opened the 2026 Commonwealth Games but Australia has plunged its flag in Glasgow announcing kings and queens to lead a new golden era

Australia’s going to need a bigger plane to bring home all the gold, after our athletes delivered another huge day in Glasgow, building on their massive lead at the top of the Commonwealth Games medal tally. Here’s what you missed while you were sleeping.

The Wombats got the first gold medal of day six for Australia, when they defended their title in the men’s 3×3 wheelchair basketball.

The Wombats outlasted England in a tight final. Eithen Leard finished with 10 points for the Wombats, including two-of-four from long range, as they sealed back-to-back Games titles, defending the gold they won in Birmingham in 2022.

Then it was over to the pool, where son of a gun Kai Taylor stunned a second time, with a jaw-dropping swim from the outside lane kickstarting another gold rush at the Tollcross Aquatic Centre.

Taylor won the gold medal in the 200m freestyle from lane one, arguably the least favourable lane, in a stunning coming-of-age victory for Australia’s son of a great. The son of swim legend Hayley Lewis, Taylor produced one of the truly great swims of the Glasgow Games to win in 1:45.22 ahead of England’s James Guy (1:45.72) and Matt Richards of Wales (1:45.72) who dead-heated for silver.

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Australia’s undisputed new queen of freestyle sprinting, Meg Harris collected her fifth gold medal at the Games with an impressive victory in the 50m final. In a race always decided by tiny margins, Harris did just enough to get her hand on the wall first in a time of 24.23 seconds.

Kyle Chalmers and Ben Armbruster dead-heated for gold in the men’s 50m butterfly. The pair touched the wall simultaneously in 22.73 seconds, while Cam McEvoy’s 22.92 completed another classy Aussie medal sweep. It was the first international title for Chalmers in a stroke other than freestyle.

Paralympic star Lakeisha Patterson added another gold medal to her bulging international collection, claiming the S9 100m freestyle title at a Commonwealth Games for the second time in her career.

Eight years after she stole the show with double gold at the Gold Coast Games in 2018, Patterson returned to the top of the podium, leading home an Aussie quinella* with training partner Emily Beecroft in a thrilling final night duel in the pool.

Brittany Castelluzzo pulled off another shock gold medal for Australia, winning the 200m butterfly final in a courageous start-to-finish victory. Castelluzzo was the fourth fastest qualifier into the final but threw the form book out the window to lead every lap in an epic stroke for stroke battle to win in 2:06.56.

The ironman of Australian swimming, Sam Short successfully defended his 1500m freestyle title to claim his fourth gold medal in Glasgow. Despite finishing fifth in the 200m final a little over an hour before the 1500m, Short led all the way to win the longest race in the pool in a time of 14:42.11.

Sprint queen Meg Harris, who finished the competition with a record-equalling six gold medals, anchored Australia to victory in the women’s medley relay.

She teamed up with Iona Anderson (backstroke), Sienna Toohey (breaststroke) and Alex Perkins (butterfly) to win easily in a combined time of three minutes 54.25 seconds, breaking the Commonwealth Games record.

Australia’s women basketballers have rewritten the painful script that cost them a medal at the Paris Olympics in 2024, claiming Commonwealth Games gold despite being a player down. The Gangurrus shone on their way to a 21-11 victory over Uganda, even with Emma Clarke missing the gold medal match due to a knee injury.

Meanwhile, Eileen Cikamatana defended her title in the women’s weightlifting, winning gold in the 86kg class. She lifted 108kg in the snatch followed by 140kg clean and jerk for a Games record total of 248kg.

DAY 5 UPDATE: SILVER BULLET LACHIE KENNEDYS AR
Lachlan Kennedy has laid down the run of his life in Glasgow overnight in a new Australian record, with a perfect race that saw him win silver just 0.02 seconds behind on the line

Lachlan Kennedy produced the greatest 100m race by an Australian in history, smashing the national record to be beaten by a whisker in the Commonwealth Games final.

Kennedy was just beaten by a late lunge by Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme, who broke the Games record with the first medal at Glasgow for his country, clocking 9.83sec. Kennedy claimed silver, the merest whisker away from the win, crossing in 9.85sec.

Kennedy’s time obliterated Patrick Johnson’s previous national record of 9.93sec, which has stood since 2003.

To understand the mind-blowing magnitude of his achievement, not only is it a huge Australian record, it is the first medal for Australia in the men’s 100m since Michael Cleary took bronze in 1962.

It is hands-down an absolutely scorching result and Kennedy ran a flawless race.

Make no mistake: Lachlan Kennedy’s silver medal is a golden moment for Australian Athletics.

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Elsewhere, Australia’s gold rush continued in Glasgow, with the swimmers dominating in the pool again, gymnasts capping off a superb Commonwealth Games … and yet another 10,000m run for the ages, this time in the men’s race, with Ky Robinson winning the prize.

Here’s every gold medallist on a day when Australia won another nine in total.

Ky Robinson produced a race for the ages to win the 10,000m. Wearing a cap in the pouring rain, the 24-year-old held his nerve after taking the lead with nine laps to go and was never headed. Robinson’s heroics came off the back of Rose Davies doing the same thing 24 hours earlier to win the women’s 10,000m gold medal.

Eleanor Patterson has won the women’s high jump gold medal 12 years after she first did it at the 2014 Games in Glasgow. Patterson produced a Games record jump of 1.96m as she beat fellow Australian Nicola Olyslagers, who finished runner-up.

Flynn Southam won the men’s 100m freestyle final to claim his maiden international title while handing Kyle Chalmers his first defeat by a fellow Australian on the world stage. Southam, 21, took control of the race from the moment he left the blocks and shot clear of the field to win by half a body length in a time of 47.13.

Australia’s new middle-distance star Lani Pallister destroyed her opponents to win the women’s 800m freestyle at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Pallister finished half a lap of her nearest rival as she cruised to victory in 8:11.12, setting a Games record.

Australia’s ironwoman of the pool Jenna Forrester did it again, pulling victory from the jaws of defeat with an epic final surge to claim her third gold medal of the Commonwealth Games.

Forrester surged in the final strokes to win the 200m medley in a time of 2:09.24, out-touching South African Aimee Canny (2:09.37) by just 0.14 seconds, with English teen Amalie Smith taking the bronze medal in 2:09.62.

The mixed medley relay team of Iona Anderson, Sam Williamson, Matthew Temple and Meg Harris raced home to win the 28th gold medal of Australia’s pool campaign – equalling the number of wins from the 2018 Gold Coast Games.

Kirralee Hayes helped Australia’s swim team bring up their half century, securing the Dolphins’ 50th medal of the pool at the Commonwealth Games with a huge gold medal swim in the S13 50m freestyle final. Hayes raced clear in the final to touch the wall in 27.63sec, securing Australia’s 24th gold medal of the meet.

Teammate Jenna Jones finished with the bronze medal in 29.02 seconds.

Breanna Scott streeted the field on the balance beam with an outstanding routine. Scott, who also won silver in the all 'round competition, headed into the final with the highest score on the apparatus from qualifying but with a highly technical routine, nothing was assured.

But she nailed every element, including tumbling passes, a double spin and front somersault on the narrow apparatus before sticking her dismount, a double back somersault in the pike position to score 13.933, taking gold by a massive 0.7 points from Singapore’s Amanda Yap.

Jesse Moore won team and all 'round bronze earlier in the program but seemed frustrated after his all 'round final, believing he could have done better. There were no such worries in the parallel bars, with Moore setting the tone out of the gate for his final finals, with a score of 14.0.

None of the competitors in the opening half of the final were able to match it and Moore was forced into an agonising wait as his remaining four rivals warmed up and then competed, each falling short of Moore’s score.

DAY 4 UPDATE: ATHLETICS START, COMING UP ROSE’S
Australia’s Glasgow gold rush has continued apace after more dominance poolside and a historic win as the athletics events begin, with Rose Davies making history with a golden run.
While you were sleeping, our athletes have been giving their all in Glasgow. Australia has continued to dominate the Commonwealth Games medal tally, after another hugely successful night.

Australia won its first athletics gold medal on the first night of action at the track, with Rose Davies triumphing in the 10,000 metres. Aussie Lauren Ryan finished fifth.

Davies produced a sensational run, crossing the line in 31:39:32, becoming Australia’s first gold medallist in the women’s event.

It’s a huge result considering the runners who came second and third, Kenya’s Diana Wanza and Rwanda’s Florence Niyonkuru, went 1-2 at the African Championships.

“This has been a race of a lifetime,” Bruce McAvaney said in commentary on Channel 7: “She’s going to do what no Australian has ever done before. A female has won the 10,000 metres at the Commonwealth Games.

“Stunning performance, magnificent running, the back end was breathtaking.”

“I’m stoked,” Davies said. “My goal was to run as well as I could and I’m just so happy I got the win. It’s my first big win ever and to do it at the Commonwealth Games is a dream come true. I’m kind of speechless right now but I’m so happy.”

In the pool, the water in Glasgow has officially turned green and gold, with Australia bagging so many medals even the commentators were struggling to keep up.

Let’s start with birthday girl Alex Perkins, who won the women’s 100m butterfly by some distance over the rest of the field, touching in a very solid time of 56.38. Perkins’ fourth gold of these Games was certainly a memorable way to celebrate turning 26.

In the 4 x 200m women’s freestyle relay, the Aussies demolished the competition to claim yet another gold. The quartet of Mollie O’Callaghan, Lani Pallister, Inez Miller, and Hannah Casey was unchallenged for almost the entire race, with silver and bronze England and New Zealand unable to catch them.

O’Callaghan finished off the job, stretching further clear to seal the victory as her teammates roared her to the wall.

Our para athletes continued to shine, with Beau Matthews claiming gold in the SB9 100m breaststroke in 1:09.41.

Sam Williamson has done it again, winning the men’s 50m breaststroke to make it double gold after his stunning win in the 100m. Recovering from a ruptured patella tendon, the Aussie said: “I don’t want to speak out of turn but I reckon two gold medals tells you how the good the injury’s going at the moment.”

Sam Short dominated the 800m freestyle final to win his third gold of the meet in a very solid time of 7:39.81, a few seconds outside his PB set at trials. The race was yet another Australian clean sweep with Ben Goedemans (7:46.49) and Matthew Galea (7:47.10) sharing the podium.

Cameron McEvoy cracked the 21-second barrier to win his first individual Commonwealth title and said he wants to get even faster for the LA Olympics.

Australia was denied a gold medal in a thrilling finish in the 200m men’s butterfly.

Aussie Harrison Turner was streaking clear at the halfway point and still looked good for the gold at the final turn, with compatriot Matthew Temple coming back strongly to challenge him. But out of nowhere, New Zealand’s Lewis Clareburt, who was seventh after 100m, roared back in the centre to steal the gold from the Aussie pair. Clareburt is no stranger to the podium – he was the defending champion from the Birmingham Games and put the Kiwis on the board in style.

DAY 3 UPDATE: CAM MCEVOY LEADS AUSSIE SWEEP
Cameron McEvoy led a green and gold sweep in the 50m freestyle before the son of Hayley Lewis pulled off one of the all-time anchor legs to continue Australia’s Glasgow gold rush.
Australia has won five more gold medals in the pool as our “field of dreams” continued.

Australian swimming superstar Cameron McEvoy finally completed his set of major titles in 50 metres freestyle by winning an elusive* Commonwealth Games gold.

Distance star Lani Pallister dominated the 1500m from start to finish to clinch her second gold medal of the meet, touching the wall almost 19 seconds ahead of her nearest competition.

West Australia’s Iona Anderson pulled off a shock 100m backstroke victory, snatching the gold medal from Canada’s Kylie Masse in the final strokes.

Australian team baton bearer Tim Hodge lived up to his big performance reputation, with a stunning gold medal win in the S9 100m backstroke.

The men’s 4 x 200m relay team capped off another stunning night in the pool, with a thrilling win in the last race of the night.

Matt Temple missed out on his first individual gold medal at a major international competition by the smallest possible margin: one-hundredth of a second.

Mollie O’Callaghan withdrew from her third and final individual event, the 50m backstroke, revealing she had made the call not to put too much pressure on her body as she struggled with pain amid her massive Commonwealth Games schedule.

Clinical Australia showed why it is the favourite for netball gold in Glasgow, beating England 66-47 in arguably its toughest fixture match of the competition.

Gymnast Breanna Scott held her composure* in a nerve-racking final rotation to win a silver medal in the all 'round competition.

Gymnast Jesse Moore won an individual all 'round bronze medal four years after being forced to withdraw from the final.

But let’s talk about that men’s relay.

When you are born into Australian swimming royalty like Kai Taylor, it can be hard to live up to the hype.

The son of legendary Hayley Lewis, a seven-times Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Taylor has thus far carved his own reputation as a relay swimmer always doing his job for the team – but this just might be his breakout moment.

“It’s awesome that I’m making a name for myself,” Taylor said.

Tasked with anchoring* Australia’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay team that included Sam Short, Harrison Turner and Edward Sommerville, Taylor entered the water with a one-second deficit to England in swimming’s version of the Ashes.

The Poms don’t often challenge Australia in the pool, but the 4 x 200m is an event where they match up strongly and when they join forces as Great Britain they actually prevail.

So if England were to win relay gold over Australia, it would be their crowning moment of the Games.

The pressure on Taylor’s shoulders was immense. It was his first time ever anchoring an Aussie relay and suddenly the entire result rested on him producing a comeback for the ages.

His 1:44.10 relay split just might be life-changing for Taylor. It not only secured Australia its fifth gold medal of the night in 7:01.47, but it completely obliterated* England as they faded to touch in 7:04.98 – more than three seconds behind.

Australia has never lost this relay at the Commonwealth Games and while it was a true team effort, the performance of Taylor stole the show.

“I couldn’t have done it without these boys putting me in that position,” Taylor said.

“It was definitely a little bit nerve-racking and I felt like there was a time there where, you know, it might not go my way.

“But I had these boys backing me and I backed myself and we got it.”

Gold medal winning anchor legs are what build reputations in the world of swimming. Ian Thorpe and Kyle Chalmers are renowned* for such heroic feats.

While Taylor is a long way from those lofty heights, the hope is this moment could unlock the belief for him to reach individual glory too, with his own 100m and 200m freestyle events still to come.

As much as he has forged* his own path in the sport, following in the footsteps of his famous mum could be something of a burden*.

But Taylor has never seen it that way and is determined to add more to the family legacy*.

“I wouldn’t say it’s been hard. I’d say it’s almost been, you know, kind of amazing and I’m very proud to have had that,” he said.

“Obviously Mum had such amazing success in the Commonwealth Games and beyond the Commonwealth Games, and I think … to be her son and to just be in her legacy and to sort of make a name for myself and come through and make her proud is all that I’m happy with.”

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POLL

GLOSSARY

• elusive: not easily found, something or someone difficult to describe, discover or achieve
• composure: the feeling of being calm, confident, and in control
• anchoring: final section of a race; the anchor is the final swimmer in the relay team
• forged: when something is created with a lot of hard work in the hope that it will be strong or lasting
• burden: a heavy load that you carry
• legacy: something handed down or received from an ancestor, predecessor, or a past period of time, such as a lasting impact, tradition, or cultural result

EXTRA READING

Comm Games begin in Glasgow

Game on for the Commonwealth

Short smashes 800m swim record

DAY 4 QUICK QUIZ

1. Rose Davies is the first Aussie to win which event?
2. What is the injury Sam Williamson is recovering from?
3. Which Australian swimmers won the 4 x 200 freestyle relay?
4. What event did para athlete Beau Matthews win?
5. How does birthday girl Alex Perkins make it a memorable celebration?

QUICK QUIZ

1. Cameron McEvoy won a gold in which event?
2. Lani Pallister claimed 1500m gold in decisive fashion by how many seconds?
3. What was Kai Taylor’s relay split in the men’s 4 x 200m relay?
4. Who else was in that relay team?
5. Who is Taylor’s mum?

LISTEN TO DAY 7 UPDATE

LISTEN TO DAY 6 UPDATE

LISTEN TO DAY 5 UPDATE

LISTEN TO DAY 4 UPDATE

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Athlete trading cards
Choose one or two of your favourite athletes so far competing in the Commonwealth Games. Create an athlete trading card on this person. On your card include the following details:

• Name
• Sport
• Event
• Medal/s won (if any)
• Three interesting facts
• Drawing or photograph
• A motivational quote from the athlete or from the article

Make it look as professional as possible and have a class trading session!

Time: allow 25 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education, Visual Arts, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
“Winning isn’t the only measure of success in sport.”

What other measures of success do the Commonwealth Games athletes demonstrate that young kids can learn from?

Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

1. Harness a headline
Choose 10 results from the latest Commonwealth Games updates and write a catchy and exciting headline for each sporting glory.
For example: Kai Taylor’s Gold medal in the men’s relay – “Son of a gun”
Event Headline

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
Create a “Field of Dreams” collage, adding all the medal winners and their subsequent events as the Games progress.

Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education, Visual Arts, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
The “gold medal word” swap (three minutes)
Teacher prompt: “Sports commentators use exciting verbs and adjectives to make racing sound thrilling. Let’s steal their moves!”

Write these three boring sentences on the board:

The relay team beat the other swimmers.

The runners were very good.

Cameron McEvoy swam faster than 21 seconds.

Task: Students have two minutes to scan the article for stronger vocabulary words to swap out the italicised terms.

Extra for other games articles.

The “commentator opener” sprint (four minutes)
Teacher prompt: “Commentators don’t always start sentences with ‘The Aussies’. They change their openers to keep us on the edge of our seats.”

Show these three opener types on the board:
“Where” opener (preposition): In the pool … or Out of nowhere, …

“When” opener (Time/Action): While you were sleeping … or Recovering from a ruptured tendon …

“Emotion/description” opener (-ing/-ed word): Stunned by the result … or Streaking clear at the halfway point …

Task: Write this boring base sentence on whiteboards:

“The Aussies won the gold medal.”

Give students 90 seconds to rewrite the sentence twice using two different opener types from above.

60-second podium showcase
Provide the students with a one-two sentence summary of the article. Ask students to work in pairs to create a new opening sentence for the article summary. Give students one minute before they chin their boards and share their results.

Pick two to three pairs to read aloud their examples as “Gold medal commentators.”

Athlete profile
It’s time to shine a spotlight on our Commonwealth Games athletes. Create a template for a character profile that we can fill in with all the information you want to know about some of our athletes. Make sure the layout has subtitles, and perhaps questions under each subtitle, to help us fill it in.

Extension: Let’s test your layout. Can you use the character profile layout and fill it in with information about yourself? Check to see if you included enough categories. Will we learn a lot about you, or do you need to add more sections? Share your fact file with your class, so they can learn more about you.