The women's T54 1500m final at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow is to be rerun 39 hours after it first took place, following four crashes, three overturned wheelchairs, three appeals and a disqualification.
Race chaos
The dramatic scenes at Scotstoun track on Wednesday saw Canada's Nandini Sharma cut across Noemi Alphonse of Mauritius, causing Alphonse to flip spectacularly. Australia's Eliza Ault-Connell was then knocked to the floor, leading to a chain reaction that left Scotland's Joanna Robertson skidding on one wheel and England's Ellis Kottas crashing into a wall.
Amid the chaos, Scotland's Melanie Woods crossed the line first in a Commonwealth record of 3min 33.39sec and was initially awarded gold. Sharma was later disqualified for causing the crash, promoting Kottas to silver and Australia's Mikaela Dingley to bronze.
Appeals and decision
However, after appeals from Australia and Mauritius, and a counter-claim from Canada, Para-athletics chiefs decided to rerun the race on Friday at 10:24am. Six of the seven athletes will compete again, but Sharma's disqualification stands. No medals had been presented as the ceremony was not due until Thursday.
In an Instagram post, Kottas said: “While I really don’t want to rerun the race (lowkey traumatised) if I’m going to medal I want to do so on my own merit, so I will go out and give it all I’ve got. If I don’t medal, so be it. I’ll still have the incredible memories of lifting that England flag.”
The decision was criticised by Jonny Riall, chef de mission for Team England, who said: “We are incredibly disappointed by the late decision to rerun the T54 1500m tomorrow morning. While there is no formal protest process available to us, we have strongly challenged the decision. The race officials did not halt the race at the time of the incident, nor was any immediate decision made to declare the race void or order a rerun.”
Team Scotland released a statement: “We note the decision of the Jury of Appeal regarding the Women’s T54 1500m final. Melanie Woods and Joanna Robertson will now prepare to compete again on Friday in the rerun.”
