Scotland's Woods reclaims gold in Commonwealth Games re-run
Melanie Woods won the women's 1500m T54 Commonwealth Games title for the second time in less than two days after the final was restaged following an appeal over a first-lap crash.
Scotland's Melanie Woods once again crossed the line first in the Commonwealth Games women's 1500m T54, repeating her victory from Wednesday in Thursday's restaged final. The re-run was ordered by Para-athletics authorities after an appeal concerning a crash during the opening lap of the original race.
Woods, competing in her home city of Glasgow, led from the outset. Mauritius's Noemi Alphonse and Australia's Eliza Ault-Connell remained in contention for much of the distance, but Ault-Connell dropped back in the closing stages. Woods then held off Alphonse on the home straight, breaking the Games record she had set two days earlier and securing the gold medal once more.
England's Ellis Kottas, who had originally finished second, could not repeat that result in the re-run and came home in fourth place. Earlier, Kottas had described the decision to restart the race as leaving her 'low-key traumatised'.
Woods has used a wheelchair since being involved in a collision while cycling in 2018. The 1500m was not her only event: she was scheduled to compete in the 400m heats on Friday morning, with those heats beginning just over 90 minutes after the replayed final.
