Gold to Davies and Record breaking performances as Oceania opens its account in Glasgow

28 July 2026 Oceania’s athletes have opened the athletics program at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games with a gold medal, a silver and record breaking performances on the first day of competition.

Rose Davies is the Commonwealth 10,000m champion. The Australian ran a patient, controlled race over 25 laps to stop the clock at 31:39.32, holding off Kenya’s Diana Wanza in the closing stages. Davies takes the first Distance Gold Medal for Australia since 1998, and begins the Oceania Medal tally. Lauren Ryan (AUS) crossed the line in 5^th.

Australia’s Ullrich Muller added a second medal to the tally soon after, clocking 11.89 for silver in the Men’s T38 100m Final. England’s Thomas Young taking gold ahead of the young Australian.

Kiribati sprinter Kenaz Kaniwete making his Commonwealth Games debut broke his own National Record. Kaniwete ran 10.86 in the 100m heats to break his own Open and Under 20 national records, taking 0.05 off the 10.91 he set previously at the Pacific Mini Games.

In the T20 1500m Final, Australia’s Archer Hewett broke the Oceania record finishing fourth. Archer was just outside the podium running 4:07.71, with the race won by local favourite Sandilands of Scotland.

The 100m preliminaries went entirely to script for the Australian contingent. Edward Nketia, Rohan Browning, Torrie Lewis, Ebony Lane and Georgia Harris all booked their place in the semi-finals, where they will meet Lachlan Kennedy and New Zealand’s Zoe Hobbs, both of whom qualified automatically.

Pacific representation in the 100m was strong across both fields. Pais Wisil of Papua New Guinea was the quickest of the Pacific athletes in the men’s heats, while Heleina Young led the way in the women’s.

New Zealand’s Geordie Beamish running a brave 4^th place in the Men’s 3000m Steeplechase final behind a rapid Kenyan trio.

Lauren Bruce (NZL) leads the Oceania trio of Stephanie Ratcliffe and Lara Roberts as they progress through to the Women Hammer Final.

An Australian trio featured in the Women’s T38 100m Final with Rhiannon Clarke leading the group in 4^th, Ella Pardy 5^th and Briseis Brittain 6^th.

Day 2 of the athletics programme gets underway at 10am local time in Glasgow.

Full results are available at glasgow2026.com.