Golden moment for Melanie and Stephen leaps to long jump bronze and Native Record

Wednesday 29th July 2026

Melanie Woods took a brilliant gold medal in the wheelchair 1500m at Scotstoun to lift the Team Scotland athletics medal haul to three.

An hour or so later that rose again as Stephen Mackenzie took a super bronze in an absorbing Long Jump final in front of the North Stand.

That was Scotland’s first ever Men’s Long Jump medal and a Scottish Native Record, also.

The T54 1500m final had featured seven athletes with fellow Scot Joanna Robertson coming home in fourth place.

Melanie, who is coached by Rodger Harkins, has Para World Champs medals to her name but never a gold.

All that changed as she led from start to finish and surged through the line in a new Commonwealth Games Record of 3:33.39 with an assured performance.

‘This feels like a special one,’ she said. ‘I heard the roar of the crowd even just in the warm-up laps. I was trying to absorb it and trying to use the energy.’

Congratulations to Melanie and her family, Rodger and all her support team.

Joanna, who is coached by Phil Owens, was among those athlete involved in first lap crash but bravely recovered into her chair and get round in 4:47.18.

Second-placed Nandini Sharma of India was DQd after the judges looked back at the crash and England’s Ellis Kotta became the silver medallist. Joanna moved up to from fifth to fourth.

BBC Scotland Sport

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Stephen Mackenzie walked out for Long Jump final wearing a kilt and drawing great support from around the stadium.

By the time round one had concluded the man from Ullapool had leapt out to 8.08m – posting a Scottish Native Record right there and then.

He had the luxury of passing round three to then take three more throws. His fifth looked big but was a foul and 8.06m was his final round jump.

Jamaica’s Tajay Gayle took the gold at 8.15m and the silver medal was only one cm away from the Scot at 8.09m – the best leap by Indian athlete Sreeshankar.

‘It is not like me to start as well as I did – I usually tend to work my way into a competition,’ said Stephen.

‘But the support was so loud and it felt good. The fifth round jump might have been bigger but it was a foul by a scratch. I am thrilled to win a bronze and move the Native Record on further to 8.08m.’

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Erin Wallace was sixth in the opening heat at 2:00.80 to miss out on the qualifying discussion. The Giffnock North AC athlete races again in the Mile heats.

Moments later, Jemma Reekie found herself in a difficult position at 600m and although the Kilbarchan AAC athlete fought to recover, she duly finished in seventh place at 2:03.46.

Allie Routledge withdrew from her final heptathlon event through illness.

Sarah Tait fought hard to get round in the Women’s 3000m steeplechase and clocked 9:47.41 for tenth place. The Laswade AAC athlete later revealed she still requires surgery on the ankle injury sustained while racing at the World Champs last year.

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Tags: Glasgow 2026, Melanie Woods, Stephen Mackenzie, Team Scotland