England’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Scotland’s Eilish McColgan won wildly popular Commonwealth Games titles on Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium’s noisiest night to date.
After three years of injury and coaching changes, Johnson-Thompson has returned to the top of an international podium with her victory in the heptathlon.
She finished with 6,377 points, 144 more than Kate O’Connor of Northern Ireland.
McColgan’s triumph in the 10,000 meters is her first major title at the age of 31.
Her victory follows in the footsteps of her mother, who won the same championship in Edinburgh in 1986 and Auckland in 1990.
As the volume increased and the laps counted down, McColgan became entangled with Irine Cheptai of Kenya.
Captain, who placed sixth ahead of McColgan at the Tokyo Olympics last year, gained a meter’s advantage with 250m remaining.
But McColgan pulled her in, pushed forward, and, after looking over her shoulder for a response that was never forthcoming, secured her greatest victory to yet.
McColgan stated, “This is the most fantastic moment of my career.”
“In the final 100 meters, I could not hear myself think or breathe because the crowd carried me.
It’s been such a roller-coaster of a year with Covid, another illness, and a few other niggles. I knew I was fit, but I could not have wished for anything better than having my family here tonight.”
Liz McColgan embraced her daughter before praising her dedication and resolve.
“It’s great as a mother to see your daughter triumph,” she told.
“She just completed the race.” I’ve always known that she could run. It was awe-inspiring and extremely nerve-wracking to witness, but she finally pulled it off tonight.”
McColgan ran faster than her mother for both of her gold medals at the Commonwealth Games.
Her time of 30 minutes and 48.60 seconds is a Games record and adds gold to a season filled with new records.
This year, McColgan smashed the European 10km, British half-marathon, and Scottish 10,000m records, but a hamstring injury hampered her prospects at the World Championships last month.
Johnson-Thompson ascends the top once more.
Following dedicating gold to her grandmother Mary, who passed away last week, former world champion Johnson-Thompson expressed hope that this victory will revitalize her career after a string of misfortune and behind-the-scenes turmoil.
“It’s been a difficult couple of years, so I’m hoping this can launch a new phase of my career,” Johnson-Thompson added.
“It has been difficult, and there were times when I questioned whether I wanted to continue, but to come out here and win the gold proves that persevering was worthwhile.”
Johnson-Thompson entered the 800m final with a substantial advantage over her 21-year-old competitor O’Connor, but she left little to chance as she raced to the finish line more than half a second ahead of her.
Johnson-Thompson defeated the youthful pretenders to her throne with the javelin, even though the 800m was her coronation event.
In the throwing events, the 29-year-old is particularly susceptible. Since throwing it in 2019, she had not come within three meters of her personal best of 43.93m.
In the penultimate event on Wednesday, O’Connor’s initial throw of 50.83 meters, in response to Johnson-starting Thompson’s throw of 36.19 meters, increased the pressure on the defending champion.
However, Johnson-Thompson managed 44.33 meters in the last round before covering her face with her hands in a mixture of surprise and elation.
After a period of declining form and fitness, she threw further than she ever had before. It was a feat that few people saw coming.
Jade O’Dowda, a teammate of Johnson-Thompson from England, won bronze with 6,212 points.
Elsewhere Aled Sion Davies, a three-time Paralympic champion from Wales, won gold in the F42-44/61-64 discus competition, while teammate Harrison Walsh placed third, behind Sri Lanka’s Palitha Halgahawela Gedara.
Davies’ best effort of 51.39m fell short of the F42 discus world record of 56.21m that he established in July, but it was sufficient to justify his decision to switch to the event after winning the Paralympic shot put gold in 2016 and 2021.
