'It's actually wild': Hobbs wins 100m gold

In wet conditions, Zoe Hobbs produced a “wild” result to claim New Zealand’s first 100m gold at the Commonwealth Games, securing a stunning victory from lane seven. 

Hobbs broke her own Oceania record in a personal best time of 10.93 seconds to beat England’s Amy Hunt (10.98s) in silver and Torrie Lewis (10.99s) of Australia who claimed the bronze. 

It was a near-perfect race for Hobbs who led from the start and held on to the end with a dip over the finish line. Doreen Porter-Shann is the only other New Zealander to get a medal in the 100m event, with a silver in 1962. 

“I don’t know, I can’t even put into words. It’s crazy. I just think about the time. I was told I shouldn’t do the 100m because it’s too hard to do, that I should consider doing other events because I’ll never make it as a sprinter in the 100m. And here I am making the Games let alone getting a medal. It’s crazy. It’s actually wild,” Hobbs told Sky Sport. 

“I was kind of waiting for Amy to come up on me because that’s what happened in the semi. I’ve raced Amy a couple of times now this season and I know her top-end speed is her strength - and the start is mine. I had a really good start but I actually had a bit of a stumble and had to recover myself. And I wasn’t sure if that would be enough to keep me in it. But I don’t know; the rest is a blur and I managed to hold them off. I had to dip. It’s not my strength to dip but I came away with an area record at the same time,” she added. 

Five years ago Hobbs was denied selection to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics by the New Zealand Olympic Committee despite meeting the qualification time. At the time NZOC required athletes to meet a high standard of a top-16 finish. Hobbs bounced back from that disappointment to make the 2022 Commonwealth Games final where she finished fifth. She then became the first Kiwi female to crack the sub-11 second barrier in Sydney in 2023, clocking 10.97s. She later lowered her personal best and Oceania record to 10.94s in July 2025 only to beat it again today in rainy and wet conditions. 

After finishing second in her semi-final, Hobbs said she needed a hairdryer. 

“I am saturated. Feel like I just had a shower. I can’t even see, hazy eye on the start line. Got the job done. Through to the final. Got a big Q, so reset and go again.” 

Reset she did, to power past the seven-women field in the final and take the gold. 

Gold medallist Zoe Hobbs of New Zealand poses for a photo after the women's 100m final during the Commonwealth Games. Photo / Getty Images 

Hobbs’ victory was the second gold of the day for New Zealand after Lewis Clareburt added his golden touch for a second time in Glasgow after successfully defending his 400m individual medley title. 

Just like yesterday’s 200m butterfly final, Clareburt needed to come back to claim victory after sitting fourth after the backstroke leg before taking control of the race with 100m to go. 

He finished just outside the Games record he set four years ago in Birmingham, beating Australian training partner William Petric in a time of four minutes 8.72 seconds for his fourth career title at the Commonwealth Games. 

“It’s a pretty good feeling. I wasn’t feeling amazing in warm-ups. I knew I had to tell myself warm-up doesn’t mean anything when it comes to a race. Anything can happen out there and I had to keep telling myself that ... being a part of that race was pretty fun,” Clareburt told Sky Sport after the victory. 

“Pretty gutting to finish that race and look up and see just over the time but I’m where I want to be. I’m where I was four years ago pretty much. That’s what I wanted this year. Hopefully in the years to come I can build off that. There’s so many things that probably went wrong in that race that I can fix up at a later date. I can analyse it all I want right now but I think I just got to be happy I won the race,” he added. 

It was the second medal for New Zealand of the day in Glasgow after weightlifter Cameron McTaggart claimed silver in the men’s 88kg with a total of 338kg. 

Hafizuddin Muhammad of Malaysia won the gold with a Games record total of 345. McTaggart lifted 154kg in the snatch to sit third and then 185kg in the clean and jerk. With Canadian Braydon Kennedy failing to complete the Clean and Jerk lift, that opened up the silver for the Kiwi. 

Erika Fairweather then took her medal haul to five in Glasgow with her third silver medal coming in the 800m freestyle final, once again finishing behind Aussie Lani Pallister who completed the 400m, 800m, 1500m treble with Fairweather getting silver in all three events. 

Just moments later Lauren Bruce got New Zealand’s seventh silver medal, with a second placing in the women’s hammer throw. Bruce saved her best for last with a 69.82m throw in her sixth and final attempt. Canada’s Camryn Rogers won gold with 74.38m and Lara Roberts of Australia claimed bronze with 68.05m. 

The Silver Ferns remain perfect in group play with a 58-50 win over Uganda while the men’s 3x3 basketball booked a spot in the semi-finals with a win over Uganda. 

Cameron McMillan has been a sports journalist since 2003 and is NZME’s Deputy Head of Sport.