Torrie Lewis breaks national record, beats Jamaican great Elaine Thompson-Herah ahead of 2026 Commonwealth Games
Updated ,first published
Just weeks ago, Torrie Lewis sat on the track and cried. It was just a warm-up for practice, and he couldn’t even get through that without hurting his leg.
If it weren’t for the upcoming Commonwealth Games, he might have managed to finish his season.
The same Achilles that had torn last year and put a damper on his season was yelling at him again. He didn’t tear it again, but that wasn’t right. The injury forced her to withdraw from what would have been her athletics program’s final competition before the Commonwealth Games, which begin next Monday.
With his Achilles like this, he doubted he could run a sprint double and a sprint relay. So he went to Slovakia for the PTS meeting in Banska Bystrica, not knowing what would happen.
He was there to provide clarity; In a pre-games interview, he told this imprint that what happened in Slovakia would be decisive for his program in Glasgow.
She will now complete the sprint double at the Commonwealth Games after breaking her national record in the 100m and becoming the first Australian woman to break almost 11 seconds.
He also beat a five-time Olympic champion in the process, won the 200 meters and, most importantly, was pain-free while running and woke up with his Achilles tendon feeling fine.
“I found it to be a strong field with Elaine Thompson [Herah from Jamaica, a five-time Olympic champion] and I just wanted to try and win. Lewis, who ran in 11.04 seconds, won the 200 meters in 22.66 seconds.
“I was really happy, watching it [Thompson-Herah] He’s been winning Olympics for years and years, and of course I know he’s not at his best, but to beat someone of that caliber is pretty cool. And I was so happy to finally hug him.
“I feel like I can run again today. Knowing how intense the program is gives me confidence heading into Glasgow.”
For perspective, Lewis broke the national record even though he wouldn’t have been able to run under normal conditions.
“[Slovakia] It was the last part of the plan that my coach asked me to do,” he said in the interview before the meeting.
“I’m a little unsure. Normally I wouldn’t want to compete with six days to go in a competition, but I’m not really sure where I am.
“Last year I ruptured my Achilles tendon and missed a lot of competitions, a lot of training, but when I came back, literally the first outdoor competition in China, it started hurting again. I was worried. Same thing.”
“You might say I can’t expect much from myself given the impact it’s had on training, but in my last race in Scotland I ran my second fastest time by 0.06 off my PB, so I wanted to do this race in Slovakia and see if I could keep the momentum.
“I still have good hopes for what I can do. [Scotland] It surprised me but I was so determined to run well in Glasgow all year long, even though I was in pain.
“The pain has improved over the past week and a half, but a few weeks ago it was so bad I was crying just to keep warm. If I wasn’t so determined to run in the Contact Games, I would have pulled the plug on the season and definitely started over.”
“I really want to go to Glasgow. I’ve spoken to doctors from Australia and the Netherlands and had scans, they think running won’t make it worse, it will just hurt. There’s no risk of it tearing again. There was no need for surgery last time and I don’t think it will happen this time either.”
“There won’t be much change in my results [Slovakia] and Glasgow, you can’t improve much in a week and a half, but hopefully I can run a little bit better in a major championship.”
Queenslander Lewis first broke the national record as a 19-year-old when she ran 11.10 seconds in Canberra in 2024, beating Melissa Breen’s record of 11.11 seconds in 2014. Lewis lowered that time once again with a run of 11.08 during heats at last year’s world athletics championships.
This latest record comes just months after Lewis was awarded gold in the 200 meters at the 2024 Under-20 World Championships in March after winner Adaejah Hodge tested positive for a banned metabolic modulator.
Competing for the Virgin Islands, Hodge received a heavy reduction in his sentence which will allow him to compete in Glasgow and set up a showdown with Lewis as Hodge was selected to compete in the 100m and 200m.
Lewis is scheduled to run the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay in Glasgow after being selected for the 55-member Australian team alongside rising sprint stars Lachlan Kennedy (100m, 200m and 4x100m relay). Eddie Nketia (100m).
The competition is a valuable international building block on the road to the LA 2028 Olympic Games.
Teenage sensation Gout Gout will not be competing in Glasgow as he had planned to run at this year’s Under-20 World Championships, but those plans have been shelved after suffering a serious hamstring injury in training. He is expected to stay away from competition until next year.
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