Elliot Jones, an unheralded English 100m sprinter making his international debut at the grand age of 28, cut through the noise over the no-shows at these Commonwealth Games. Asked about all the withdrawals, he shook his head in disbelief.
“The national pride I have is so, so high,” he said. “I personally don’t understand why athletes wouldn’t want to come and represent their country, regardless of timetables. I’m going to take every international call I can get.”
A call-up and a statement
Nine Team England athletes have withdrawn, including former world champions Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Dina Asher-Smith. Scotland’s Eilish McColgan also pulled out on Saturday after failing to recover from injury. Those absentees created a potential golden ticket for others, and no one grabbed it harder than Jones, a part-time athlete whose day job is working for Uefa on matchday operations in the Champions League and Europa League.
On Thursday night, he was phoned by the England team’s sprints manager to ask whether he fancied running in the 100m after Louis Hinchliffe pulled out. “Let me think about that,” he replied, before shouting: “Yes!” “I had to get the Glasgow bus at 9 the next morning, quickly pack and restructure my training plan but it’s fine, we’re always ready,” he said. “It was supposed to take us six hours but it took us seven with the traffic.”
Having got here, Jones ran 10.07sec to qualify third overall for the semi-finals on Tuesday.
Pride and withdrawals
A similar message was delivered by Wales’ Jeremiah Azu, the world indoor 60m champion, after he scooted through his 100m heat in 10.10. Asked why he decided to go to Glasgow, he pointed to the word Cymru on his vest. “Because of this,” he said. “To put this vest on is such a privilege and an honour, and I would never put that opportunity to the side. I would never disrespect the flag like that.”
Despite the absence of 100m world champion Oblique Seville, a strong men’s field still includes Nigeria’s Kanyinsola Ajayi, who ran 9.84 to win the London Diamond League ahead of Seville just over a week ago.
Women’s side hit by absentees
On the women’s side, the story is very different. Six of the top 10 100m times in 2026 have been run by Commonwealth athletes – none of whom are actually running the event in Glasgow. However, England’s Imani-Lara Lansiquot, a two-time Olympic 4x100m medallist, said she was delighted to be at the “Friendly Games”. “I think this competition is a great springboard for athletes,” she said. “And it’s a great springboard for us as a country, in a time where it feels very divided. You walk around our hotel, the energy is buzzing. Everyone has that sense of togetherness, and that’s what I love about this competition.”
Crowd and atmosphere
That mood was reflected in a surprisingly strong crowd of 7,500 on the opening morning, despite temperatures in the low teens. As Billy Connolly once joked: “There are two seasons in Scotland, June and Winter.” Yet on the track and off, it soon warmed up. They cheered everyone on, including stragglers like Tye Leo-Stroud of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, who ran a season’s best 11.85 in the men’s 100m. “It was cold – I didn’t expect it,” Leo-Stroud said. “Where I am from is very hot, both during day and at night. I pulled my hamstring a couple of years ago. It’s a bit tight.”
There will be lots of good races in the days ahead, especially in the men’s mile when world record holder Josh Kerr faces off against his compatriot Jake Wightman and the new Australian star Cam Myers. The women’s 800m is also a tantalising rematch between Kenya’s Lilian Odira and England’s Georgia Hunter-Bell, who finished first and second at the world championships.
Defending the withdrawals
At the end of the first session, England Athletics’ team leader Scott Grace defended those who had pulled out, saying some preferred to focus on the European championships in Birmingham in two weeks’ time. “Because when you’re a world-class athlete, putting your body through three rounds here, three rounds there, is hard,” he said. But in a market where track and field is fighting for every eyeball, the lack of sustained star power during a home Games matters. Euan Crumley, editorial director of Athletics Weekly, said: “On my train to Scotstounhill, I heard a lot of spectators asking which athletes would actually be here. Some are – like Amy Hunt. But not all the names they mentioned will be, sadly.”
