Hobbs reveals emotional gold and why her mum missed the winning moment

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Author: NZ Herald,
Publish Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2026, 1:17pm

Commonwealth Games 100m champion Zoe Hobbs has revealed her mother missed most of her 100m victory in Glasgow despite being in the stands.

Hobbs broke her own Oceania record in a personal-best time of 10.93s yesterday to beat England’s Amy Hunt (10.98s) in silver and Torrie Lewis (10.99s) of Australia, who claimed the bronze. Doreen Porter-Shann is the only other New Zealander to get a sprint medal at the Commonwealth Games, with a silver in the 100 yards event in 1962.

Moments after receiving her gold medal this morning, Hobbs caught up with The Hits Breakfast with Jono, Ben & Megan to talk about an emotional medal ceremony.

“A lot of emotions. Just the journey it’s taken to get here and knowing that those closest to me were in the stands watching that moment together was unreal. I never thought I’d get a moment to stand on a dais and hear the national anthem and see the flag get raised, so it was really special.”

Her parents were at Scotstoun Stadium to watch the race but her mother’s attempts to film it meant she missed the gold-winning moment.

“My mum actually missed the race. Dad had sprung out of his chair and was covering, because mum was trying to film it. The camera didn’t catch any of it except for the start. And mum was like, ‘What has she done? What has she done? And Dad’s like, ‘She’s just got the gold’.”

“It’s a huge feat to have won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games and for that to be in the iconic event of the 100 was just, I think, the part that was where I was in more disbelief. I knew that I had it in me to get the gold, but in a 100 it’s such fine margins and it’s just about putting together the right race and I had to put together a really good race, no room for hiccups and I think I managed to execute really well and that’s what helped secure the gold.” Hobbs said.

Zoe Hobbs broke the Oceania women's 100m record at the 2026 Commonwealth games. Photo / Photosport

Silver medallist Hunt told the Guardian that it was so wet during racing that several of her fake fingernails came off.

Hobbs’ main concern was that her mascara would get in her eyes.

“That semifinal was crazy. I don’t think I’ve ever run in anything quite as bad as that. I started to go a little bit blind on the start of the line for the semifinal because it was that torrential that my makeup started to run into my eyes. I was like, ‘I can’t wipe my eyes because then I’m just going to get black eye everywhere with my mascara’,” she told Breakfast with Jono, Ben & Megan.

“I’m just going to have to blink profusely to try and get like any form of irritation out of my eyes. Meanwhile, we’re crouched on the start line ready to go and I’m feeling the torrential rain on my back and I’m like ‘let’s just get the show on the road’. That one was more about just getting through safely and I managed to tick that box and onto the final and fortunately the final eased up a little bit in terms of the conditions.”