Cameroon's Emmanuel Eseme won the Commonwealth Games men's 100 metres in 9.83 seconds in Glasgow on Tuesday, breaking both the Games record and his national record despite driving rain. World Athletics reported that the 32-year-old African champion surged past his rivals late in the race at Scotstoun Stadium, with a legal following wind of 1.3 metres per second.
Eseme's performance placed him third on the African all-time list and made him the third-fastest man in the world during the 2026 season, according to World Athletics. It also marked a sharp improvement within a single evening: he had lowered Cameroon's record to 9.89 in his semifinal, run with no measurable wind, before cutting another six hundredths of a second from that time in the final.
Australia's Lachlan Kennedy earned silver in 9.85, setting an Oceanian record, while Nigeria's Kayinsola Ajayi took bronze in 9.90. South Africa's Gift Leotlela finished fourth in 9.91, meaning the first four runners all broke 10 seconds. Kennedy and Ajayi had each clocked 9.94 in the semifinals, with that mark then representing a personal best for Kennedy.
The result gives Cameroon one of the signature victories of the Glasgow Games and represents the biggest championship success of Eseme's career. He reached the Olympic 100m semifinals in Paris in 2024 and entered Glasgow as the reigning African champion, but the Commonwealth final elevated him into a faster tier of the event while delivering his country's premier sprint title.
The women's 100m final also produced exceptional depth and another continental record. New Zealand's Zoe Hobbs won in an Oceanian record of 10.93, ahead of England's Amy Hunt in 10.98 and Australia's Torrie Lewis in 10.99, leaving all three medallists below 11 seconds. The two finals made the wet evening one of the fastest sprint sessions in Commonwealth Games history.
Eseme's victory came during an athletics programme that also delivered Games records in both hammer events. Canada's Camryn Rogers won the women's hammer with 74.91 metres, while compatriot Ethan Katzberg took the men's title with 80.97 metres. Competition in Glasgow continues, giving Eseme and the other record-setters a central place in the story of a Games already marked by record performances.
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