Scot repeats her winning trick in controversial re-run of women's T54 1500m final, but England's Ellis Kottas finishes outside of the medals this time around.

So good, she won it twice. Having finished first during the initial staging of the women’s T54 1500m final at the Commonwealth Games earlier this week, Melanie Woods repeated the trick after the race was re-run on Friday morning (July 31). 

The Scot had managed to steer clear of trouble first time around on Wednesday evening and streak away to gold. But, behind her, the chaos caused by a collision that saw four finalists crash sparked a number of protests that resulted in the decision to make the athletes – bar the disqualified Canadian athlete Nandini Sharma – do it all over again. 

Once again, Woods was determined to get to the front from the outset and she led from gun to tape. The Scot was tracked much of the way by Noemi Alphonse of Mauritius, sitting right behind her in the slipstream, but Woods was able to pull away down the finishing straight to remove any doubt about her claim to being Commonwealth champion. 

She clocked a Games record of 3:32.20 - almost a second quicker than she had clocked in the first race - to take the gold medal, with Alphonse second in 3:32.98. Australia’s Eliza Ault-Connell, who had been in the leading group until the latter stages, won bronze in 3:40.84.

England’s Ellis Kottas, who had been upgraded to silver following Sharma’s disqualification in the initial final, was left out of the medals this time around as she came fourth in 3:40.84, just ahead of Scotland’s Joanna Robertson (4:03.44). 

"It was going back and forth all night," Woods told TNT Sports when she was asked about the decision to re-run the race. "It was only around 12 o’clock on the night that we found out it was going to be re-run but we don’t know when.

"You’re trying to stay calm and stay chill – luckily, I am pretty chill. So, I’m like: ‘It is what it is'. I’m glad those girls were able to come out and get a fair race, be able to show what shape they’re in. I just had to remain confident that I could do it again."

Ault-Connell was one of the athletes who had been involved in the collision on Wednesday and insisted it had been the right decision to re-run the race. "To crash out just over 100 metres into the race, I don't really know how to describe it," she said. "Being left on the side of the track and watching everyone go by for a few laps gave me a bit of time to let it all sink in.

"At the end of the day, I had to assume we weren't going to get a rerun at that point, so I just had to cheer everyone on. It was a bit s***, to be honest. But we're really grateful that we've had the opportunity to have a re-run and actually have a good race because, at the end of the day, that's what everyone is here for – to watch a good race."

Barely 90 minutes after winning gold, Woods was in action again as she qualified for the final of the women's T54 400m.