World record holder Josh Kerr blazed down the home straight to clinch Commonwealth Games gold in the men’s mile race at a raucous Scotstoun Stadium on Saturday night.
Kerr, who had smashed Hicham El Guerrouj’s 27-year-old record in London last month, elbowed and barged his way to the front before repelling the challenge of fellow Scot Jake Wightman, who faded to finish fifth.
Kerr crossed the line in three minutes 54.12 seconds, almost 12 seconds slower than his record mark at the London Stadium, but to equal acclaim in front of his home fans, with rising Australian star Cameron Myers taking silver and Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot in bronze.
Kerr told TNT Sports: “It means everything – this was the championship of my season. With the World Indoors and going after that record in London, this was the one I had circled in the calendar before any of that.
“London was a big stress, pushing my body to the absolute extreme limit. Doing a championship race is a nice clean palate, really using your brain instead of your body, and it’s how I love to race.
“It doesn’t get any better than this – this is absolutely incredible. To do it in front of a Scottish crowd where I learned to race – I came here week after week growing up as a kid.”
It was a fitting showdown to herald the return of the famous distance to the Commonwealth Games programme for the first time in 60 years.
Kenyan great Kip Keino won the last men’s mile race at the Games, clocking a Games record time of 3mins 55.34secs in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1966, that was destined to remain uncontested for over half a century.
The distance was immortalised by the battle to beat the four-minute barrier, which was finally achieved by Roger Bannister in Oxford in 1954, and by the so-called ‘Miracle Mile’ at the 1954 Games in Vancouver, which saw Bannister surge past his great rival and then record holder John Landy on the final straight.
While the distance looked destined to become increasingly redundant following the advent of the metric era, it was resurrected in the 1980s with a series of epic battles between Britons Steve Ovett, Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram, who swapped the world record six times between them.
Kerr and Wightman were the chief proponents of Britain’s middle-distance revival in recent years, first when Wightman was roared home to the world 1500m title in Eugene in 2022, and the following year, when the world title was won by Kerr.
Botswana’s Tshepiso Masalela led the race out through the early stages and both Kerr and Wightman were forced to battle their way through a tight-knit pack as the 13-man field began to jostle for position.
Kerr made the decisive move on the bell as he nudged aside Kenya’s Brian Komen to move into third, then took the race on down the back straight, striding out and soon putting clear air between himself and Wightman, before building his lead down the final straight to take gold.
Earlier, Jazmin Sawyers sunk to her knees after clinching the first major outdoor title of her career with a jump of 6.93 metres in the women’s long jump, less than two years after sustaining a ruptured Achilles.
A low-key England quartet of Elliot Jones, Nicholas Walsh, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake and Romell Glave finished fourth in the men’s 4x100m relay after two disqualifications ahead of them, while the women’s team of Mabel Akande, Aleeya Sibbons, Renee Regis and Success Eduan came fifth.
One day after winning a re-run 1500m event, Scotland’s Melanie Woods clinched her second gold medal of the Glasgow Games as she streaked home in the final of the women’s 400m T54.
Nathan Maguire led home team-mate Daniel Sidbury in an England one-two in the men’s 1500m T54 final,and Sophie Hahn took silver in the women’s 200m T38 event.
