Melanie Woods will have to race again for her emotional Commonwealth gold after her opponent was dramatically disqualified and a manic morning of appeals in Glasgow.
The Scot, 31, won her T54 1500m final on Wednesday night in a chaotic race that involved four crashes and three overturned wheelchairs.
Woods crossed the line first – in Commonwealth record time – ahead of Canadian Nandini Sharma, who was shortly after disqualified for causing the carnage and chain of events that wiped out half of the field.
That thrust England’s Ellis Kottas – who crashed into a wall and finished 50 seconds back – into the silver medal position but despite Woods, Kottas and Australian bronze medallist Mikaela Dingley flying their flags and completing laps of honour, they will have to do it all again 39 hours later after a bizarre morning yesterday.
After a protest and appeal from Team Canada was rejected, both Australia and Mauritius then asked for the race to be held again.
The Games’ Jury of Appeal upheld the disqualification of Sharma and, crucially, decided that the race will be run again, now rescheduled for 10:24am at Scotstoun this morning.
The outcome may have understandably left Woods, who memorably claimed two long-awaited world medals in New Delhi last year, furious after she celebrated with friends and family in front of a jubilant home crowd.
But a Team Scotland statement remained tight-lipped on the matter, saying: "We note the decision of the Jury of Appeal.
“Team Scotland athletes Melanie Woods and Joanna Robertson will now prepare to compete again on Friday in the rerun."
A Team England statement around Kottas was less diplomatic, however, with chef de mission Jonny Riall saying: "We are incredibly disappointed by the late decision.
"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. Ellis and the team therefore proceeded on the understanding that all competition procedures had been completed and the result confirmed.
"Our priority is the wellbeing of our athletes. We will now do everything we can to support Ellis during the extremely short turnaround between receiving this news and being asked to race again."
Woods will also have to juggle that rerun of the 1500m final with her 400m heats, which take place later in the morning at Scotstoun.
Elsewhere, Georgia Hunter Bell will bid for 800m glory in the evening session while Zharnel Hughes does the same over 200m.
World silver and Olympic bronze medallist Hunter Bell, 32, is one of the star names here alongside Josh Kerr and will be hoping to add a Commonwealth gold to her impressive major collection.
Over at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, cyclists Lauren Bell and Fin Graham will lead the Scottish charge for medals in their sprint and C1-3 time trial finals.
While at the SEC, boxer Sonny Kerr will hope to keep his Commonwealth dream alive and secure at least a silver medal in his light-middleweight category.
The Aberdeen ace, 23, has already guaranteed bronze and takes on Northern Ireland’s Jon McConnell for a place in the final.
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