Editor’s note: The 400m hurdles add hurdles into the insanity of the 400 meters. The 400-meter hurdles was developed, in my humble opinion, by someone with a sadistic sense of humor. Athletes who specialize in the 400-meter hurdles experience a very special type of hell on earth.
Women’s 400m hurdles
The 2026 Commonwealth Games women’s 400m hurdles was not a “world-class” event in terms of the standards set by Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, but it was significant for the athletes involved. For Sanique Walker of Jamaica, it was her first championship win and a PR to boot.
The full results were
1 Sanique Walker (Jamaica) 54.00
1 Emily Newnham (England) 54.04
3 Savannah Sutherland (Canada) 54.14
4 Lina Nielsen (England) 54.69
For Emily Newnham, just 22, the silver medal represented a real breakthrough. She said afterward: “I knew today it was going to be a battle of experience with that wind on the back straight. It’s been the talk of the town at the hotel. I tried to block the talk out and tell myself I could do it. I’m not the most experienced 400m hurdler, so today was about focusing on what I needed to do. I left a little bit too much on the last hurdle, but I’m just happy to be on the podium. Going into the race, I just really wanted to medal, and at 22 years old, I can’t ask for much more. Hopefully it puts me in good stead for the Europeans and gives me a bit of confidence. I’m super excited for those. I’m learning that I can do this. Pressure is a privilege. Little Emily would never believe she would be standing on that start line, let alone winning a medal. At 22, it would be so easy to forget the little and big wins, so I’m trying to hold onto them and put it into perspective. I just need to keep creating opportunities for myself, and hopefully gold will come soon.”
For Lina Nielsen, running 54.69 is an achievement in itself. Lina lives with a multiple sclerosis diagnosis. Rewind to 2022 when she ran 58.95 in the Commonwealth Games and 57.19 and 57.42 in the European and World Championships, when her body simply would not work properly. She revealed in 2022 that she had first had the diagnosis when she was 17. Getting back to this level is the result of character, great determination and buckets of hard work.
PS If that was not enough, Lina ran a brilliant last leg of the mixed 4X400 relay to take GB to silver
