{"id":553678,"date":"2026-07-31T21:30:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T21:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/553678\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T21:30:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T21:30:19","slug":"commonwealth-games-live-updates-new-zealand-chase-medals-in-cycling-pole-vault","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/553678\/","title":{"rendered":"Commonwealth Games live updates: New Zealand chase medals in cycling, pole vault"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eliza McCartney has secured a maiden Commonwealth Games gold medal after winning the women\u2019s pole vault final in Glasgow.<\/p>\n

McCartney claimed the biggest win of her career, beating out reigning Commonwealth and Olympic champion Nina Kennedy of Australia, while fellow Kiwi Imogen Ayris won bronze.<\/p>\n

McCartney\u2019s gold was confirmed after Kennedy failed her third attempt at 4.70m<\/p>\n

Kennedy needed two attempts to clear the previous height of 4.65m, while McCartney required just one, which was enough to see her claim gold.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Sky Sport after the win, McCartney was in shock with what she had achieved.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t sound right to be honest,\u201d McCartney said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t expecting it and I haven\u2019t won anything on the international stage before, so it\u2019s a weird feeling. I\u2019m really happy with how I navigated things today and it wasn\u2019t a high height, but sometimes it doesn\u2019t have to be, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ElizaEliza McCartney and Imogen Ayris celebrate their Commonwealth Games medals. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

Ayris secured the bronze after being able to clear 4.70m with her second attempt, while Olivia McTaggart missed out on the podium, finishing fourth.<\/p>\n

Ayris did well to eventually claim the bronze after surviving a huge scare when it took three attempts to clear 4.30m<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really special,\u201d Ayris told Sky Sport. \u201cI won a bronze medal back in 2022 almost by accident and now to come back and to really do it properly as a completely different person, completely different athlete is really special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, New Zealand won four medals on day eight of the Games, brining their total to 25, with Para-cyclist Devon Briggs also wining gold in the 1km C1-3 time trial.<\/p>\n

Briggs crossed the line in 1m 5.536s, which is a Commonwealth Games record and was full of emotion after standing atop the podium.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never really thought this day would come,\u201d Briggs told Sky Sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just such an honour and a privilege to be here and to have raced and we still have some of the world\u2019s best here for my class and to get out there and race in front of the world is just amazing.<\/p>\n

\"DevonDevon Briggs with his gold medal at the Commonwealth Games. Photo . Photosport<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to cry, honestly. It\u2019s just so special. My family\u2019s back home watching, they woke up and supporting, everyone who\u2019s helped me on my journey and this is one of the first comps I\u2019ve done where my grandma\u2019s not here watching and supporting me, so I know she\u2019s watching somewhere and I know she\u2019d be proud and I\u2019m doing this for everyone who\u2019s supported me for my whole career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sami Donnelly claimed her second silver of the Games after finishing second in the women\u2019s 10km scratch race.<\/p>\n

Donnelly crossed the line in third, but was upgraded after Anna Morris of Wales has been disqualified.<\/p>\n

\"SamiSami Donnelly (left) celebrates winning silver. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

While there was plenty of success, it was a tough day for cyclist Ellese Andrews\u2019 was taken out of the medal race in the individual sprint.<\/p>\n

The Olympic champion was beaten in consecutive races in a best-of-three quarter final against Welsh rider Emma Finucane. In the women\u2019s Individual pursuit.<\/p>\n

Bryony Botha finished fourth after being, beaten by hometown Scottish rider Emily Boothman in the bronze medal race. Botha had initially failed to qualify, but was promoted to the bronze medal race after Australian Felicity Wilson-Haffenden was disqualified due to strapping on her shoulder that \u201caltered her morphology\u201d.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Commonwealth Games debutant Max Attwell finished ninth in decathlon.<\/p>\n

He did end the event in style by crossing the line first in the 1500m race.<\/p>\n

New Zealand sits sixth on the medal table with seven golds, 10 silver and eight bronze.<\/p>\n

Ben Francis is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eliza McCartney has secured a maiden Commonwealth Games gold medal after winning the women\u2019s pole vault final in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[247424,247423,247425,8809,111,43,139,69,271969,271970],"class_list":["post-553678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-2026commonwealthgames","tag-commonwealthgames","tag-commonwealthgames2026","tag-cycling","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-polevault","tag-scratchrace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}