Ben Sandilands was crowned Commonwealth champion in the Men’s T20 1500m, with Steven Bryce bagging bronze, to ensure the Flower of Scotland rang out around Scotstoun Stadium on night one of the athletics and para athletics programme.

Sandilands, the reigning Paralympic and world champion, added Commonwealth gold to his ever-growing collection after a stunning run, and he was joined by his training partner Steven Bryce on the podium after he earned his first major medal with bronze.

After a cagey opening few laps which saw the field bunched together, Sandilands made a devastating move with a lap to go, breaking the group up and opening a margin on Canada’s Michael Barber and Bryce. He continued to put down the accelerator as he came into the home straight, and buoyed by the loud home crowd, he crossed the line victorious. Bryce fought Barber all the way down the home straight and grabbed the bronze medal, while team mate Owen Miller took sixth place.

In a women’s 10,000m final full of changes of pace, Megan Keith finished in ninth overall on the evening. After a very slow start, the pace picked up after the first kilometre, and slowly built throughout. Keith pushed on with the leading group of nine for over 7500m, but once the Kenyan Diane Wanza pushed away, that broke up the field and Keith drifted back. Australian Rose Davies took the win, with Keith crossing ninth.

It was the perfect swan song for hammer thrower Chris Bennett on the field. His best throw of 69.48m secured fifth place, his highest-ever Commonwealth Games finish. This result brings the curtain down on his career at his fourth and final Commonwealth Games.

T37/38 100m sprinter Alex Thomson closed out today’s competition with a season’s best of 12:50 for seventh.

Jemma Reekie and Erin Wallace advanced to Wednesday evening’s women’s 800m semi-finals after strong performances in the heats. Mena Scatchard, on her Commonwealth Games debut, narrowly missed out on advancing by one place and 0.10 seconds.

Stephen MacKenzie in the Men’s Long Jump and Angela McAuslan-Kelly in the Women’s Hammer both booked their place in their respective finals in the opening athletics session at Scotstoun Stadium.

MacKenzie booked his spot in Wednesday’s final after a nervous wait after finishing fourth in the first group to compete. He opened with a 7.73m jump in round one, before improving by two centimetres in round two. He couldn’t go better in his third and final attempt. With only the best 12 advancing, he faced a long wait during Group B to find out his fate, but he ultimately progressed eighth overall.

He said afterwards, “It was tricky, I just couldn’t find my foot on the board. You’ve only got three jumps, so you are kind of chasing yourself throughout. But the crowd was unbelievable, that noise was just incredible. It’s just a level up from anything I’ve ever done, so it’s great to experience it. Wednesday’s final gives me another opportunity to rectify the mistakes I made today.”

Later in the session, Angela McAuslan-Kelly progressed to the Women’s Hammer final, going through in 11th place with a best throw of 60.59m. On a cool and damp morning in Glasgow, the hammer throwers found it tough to settle into their rhythm, but McAuslan-Kelly’s opening mark was enough to see her reach the top 12 and advance to Tuesday evening’s final.

She said afterwards, “That was nerve-wracking. I had an early safe throw, but then I was going for it and trying to make sure I got it in, but it didn’t quite happen. I’m just so happy to be in the final. I’ve got nothing to lose tomorrow.”