Australia's Commonwealth Games athletics campaign ends in shockingly low-key fashion

Sun 2 Aug 2026 at 12:43pm

, updatedSun 2 Aug 2026 at 12:49pm

The final moment of celebration in Australia's glorious athletics campaign at the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games was hilariously understated.

Approaching midnight, Lachlan Kennedy, Calab Law, Josh Azzopardi, Rohan Browning and Chris Ius finally walked onto the podium to receive their gold medals for the men's 4x100-metre relay.

The crowd had long since filed out of Scotstoun Stadium when the medal ceremony, which was supposed to happen two and a half hours earlier, kicked off.

The track and field that had hosted seven golds, five silvers and five bronze medals for Australia on a jam-packed day, had been leaf-blown, cleaned and stripped of most of its Games paraphernalia.

Only a handful of volunteers, family, stadium crew, media members and team support staff remained to applaud the historic relay winners, Australia's first since 1974.

A protest by the initially disqualified Canadian team had finally succeeded, reinstating the Olympic champions to the silver medal spot and cutting short Ghanaian celebrations of bronze deep in the bowels of the Glasgow Warriors' rugby club home ground.

In a credit to organisers, the pyrotechnics still fired, the flags were still raised by military personnel in full regalia, and the anthem still played over the stadium PA.

Advance Australia Fair was sung even more drone-fully than usual without the safety of a crowd to hide the nasal tones of the Aussie accent, before the small gathering shuffled off the track.

It was a bizarrely low-key moment for one of the crowning achievements of this breakout meet for Team Australia, equalling the most medals won by the track and field team at a Commonwealth Games on foreign soil.

Of the 12 gold medals, 11 silver, and 11 bronzes, none sums up what the team has and can become more than this relay triumph.

Administrators, cheerleaders and athletes alike have been spruiking this new golden generation for Australian Athletics, which has pumped countless hours and very countable dollars into the nation's relays program in recent years.

In the past four years, Commonwealth Games Australia invested $11.6 million into the Green2Gold2Great program.

That covered a wide range of athletes, with $500,000 dedicated to relays specifically.

In that time, Australia's teams have found some phenomenal success across a number of events.

In 2025, there were green and gold teams in all six events at the World Athletics Relays for the first time ever and the mixed 4x400m team won silver.

At this year's World Relays, the men's 4x400m picked up an Australian record and bronze.

So well drilled are these teams that when it came time for the heats on the final morning of the athletics program, both the men's and women's teams could rest individual 100m medallists Kennedy and Torrie Lewis.

Azzopardi put aside his bitter disappointment at only being brought to Glasgow as a relay runner to contribute to the cause, describing the heats as "a training run".

That is a far cry from the team that missed out in Birmingham because Browning took a tumble in the heats.

They missed the 2024 Olympic final despite running faster heat times than the top three in the opposite heat, mucked up the final change in last year's world championships final, and missed a medal by just 0.24 of a second at World Relays in May.

This gold medal puts the world on notice, and there is still more room to grow.

It is a credit to the system and their confidence in it that they didn't rush Glasgow 100m finalist Eddie Nketia into the team, even for the heats, opting instead for quick-start specialist Ius to lead off.

Kennedy replaced him for the final, playing his role to perfection, handing off cleanly to Azzopardi deep in the box, before Law and Browning came home in 38.07.

"We knew what we had in us, we're training well, we compete domestically all year against each other, [so] we're pretty used to each other. I think it's a big part of why we're so successful. Train together all year, camps all year," Kennedy said.

Kennedy said there is no first and second squad in their team, but 1A and 1B, described as "green and gold" by Browning, who flagged the looming arrivals of Gout Gout and Nketia once they have more time to train with the team that now carries a golden aura.

"I hope there are kids at home tonight watching this who aspire to grow up and be part of this team," Browning said.

"Not just aspire to the baggy green or the Wallabies or the Australian AFL team, aspire to be part of the Australian relay team."

We have already seen glimpses of it, with former Cronulla Sharks under-17 player Zavier Peacock opting for the track and finishing second behind Gout at this year's junior Australian titles.

And veteran Kurtis Marschall was spurred on by their performance.

The back-to-back-to-back Commonwealth Games pole vault champion started his competition first and finished last on a frigid summer's night in Glasgow, getting the chance to watch his teammates pick up medals as he made his way up to a Games record of 5.85m, claiming the last Aussie gold of the program.

"The system is working. The boys' relay tonight was just phenomenal. They inspired me to get over the line," he said.

"We just want to keep pushing this sport along more and more and more. It's the best sport in the world and deserves more eyes, so we're just doing our part."

The whole stadium was watching his crowning moment and while no-one saw "the boys" get theirs, they weren't there to see the work it took to get there either.