Podium sweep and relay gold cap Australia’s record athletics haul at Commonwealth Games

Australia delivered an unprecedented podium sweep in the women’s mile on the final day of athletics competition at the Commonwealth Games, after Abbey Caldwell upset Jessica Hull to secure one of seven track and field gold medals including a breakthrough victory for Lachie Kennedy’s 4x100m relay team.

The haul exceeds the six gold medals from one day in Auckland in 1950, when Marjorie Jackson and Shirley Strickland were among the winners, to make it Australia’s most successful track and field day at the Commonwealth Games.

Caldwell held off Hull and a fast-finishing Claudia Hollingsworth in the final race of the evening. “It is a privilege to line up with people like Jess and Clauds,” Caldwell told Channel Seven after securing Australia’s first gold medal in the women’s mile at the Commonwealth Games. “Getting onto the track, they are my main competitors, and for them to be from the same nation is unbelievable, so watch out for us Aussie girls in the coming years.”

Hull’s silver is her second of the Games, after she finished behind another Australian, Rose Davies, in the 5000m. “I heard them [the stadium commentators] say with about 40 to go, that the Australians are going to sweep, and I was just like, ‘Oh my god!’,” she said.

The win in the men’s relay was Australia’s first in the event for 52 years, secured after the team trusted each other with faster but riskier baton hand-offs. “We all knew we were capable of getting gold today, so all our [handover] marks, we pushed them out [stretched them], and we just sent it,” Kennedy said. “We gave it everything we had and I mean, credit to everyone here, and shout out Chris [Ius] for running the heat this morning.”

Kennedy handed the baton to Josh Azzopardi, who had complained before the Games about Rowan Browning being preferred to him for selection in individual 100m. Azzopardi maintained the lead and passed onto Kennedy’s training partner Calab Law, who handed Browning just enough of a buffer to hold off the Olympic champions Canada.

Browning glanced to his inside on the line to see for himself the margin of four hundredths of a second. “I don’t think I’ve ever run quite that scared in my life,” said the veteran, who shared an embrace with Azzopardi at the line.

“Four years ago, I tripped over, got the team DQd [disqualified] in the heat, when I think we were medal threats, and I’ve had to carry the burden of that for the past four years,” Browning said. “This hopefully wipes the slate clean, and it’s probably the most special moment of my career.”

Mackenzie Little claimed victory in the javelin, adding to Australian wins in the morning session by Matt Denny in discus and Rhiannon Clarke in the T38 200m. The day began with another Australian one-two-three, when Jemima Montag finished ahead of Elizabeth McMillen and Rebecca Henderson in the 10,000m walk.

The procession of gold was bookended by Kurtis Marschall, who won a third pole vault title in a row in the Glasgow night, clearing 5.85m to surpass by 5cm the Commonwealth Games record of Steve Hooker set in Melbourne in 2006. “It couldn’t have been more of a fairytale ending if I asked for one, mate,” Marschall said.

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The 29-year-old is one of just six men in Commonwealth Games history to win three successive gold medals. He said he planned on coming back in India in 2030 to try to make it four, but for now his focus is on eclipsing Hooker’s Australian record of 6.06m.

The mark is just 6cm above Marschall’s best of 6.00m, which he has now cleared three times in 2026 already. “I really wanted that Comm Games record, Steve’s had that long enough, and he’s had the Aus record long enough, too, so, I’m coming for that,” Marschall said.

Luke Boyes won silver in the 800m, as did Ky Robinson in the 5,000m to back up his 10,000m gold, and Cam Myers also finished a strong second in the highly anticipated showdown over a mile with world record holder Josh Kerr.

The Australian was disappointed afterwards. “That was just an awful race, I couldn’t even give him a challenge, and that’s the disappointing part,” Myers said. The 20-year-old was boxed in for much of the race and missed a brief window to go with the charging Scot with 200m left.

“It’s the hesitation, when you’re on someone’s shoulder then you’ve just got to go, and if you don’t go, someone goes around you,” Myers said. “I had a perfect position with a lap to go, and I lost it to two or three guys, and I gave Kerr a fucking – sorry – a three-metre head start at 200 to go, so you can’t do that at this level. He beat me, and fair play to him.”