Megan Keith draped a saltire over her shoulders and ran the wrong way round the track to find her grandad. She had just won bronze in the 5000m at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, and the 24-year-old from Inverness wanted to share it with the man who had come to Scotstoun Stadium to watch.

Australia's Rose Davies took gold, outsprinting compatriot Jessica Hull — the Olympic 1500m silver medallist — in a sprint finish. Keith finished third, clocking 14:49.10, a Native Record (the fastest time by a Scottish-qualified athlete). Scottish Athletics

What makes the medal startling is what came before it. On Monday, Keith finished seventh in the 10,000m final — the first women's track final of these Games — a result that stung because the longer distance is the one she considers her stronger event. The 10,000m is where she holds a European bronze from 2024 and where she set a European record at the Castellón 10km road race in Spain earlier this year. Glasgow 2026

Instead of carrying that disappointment into the 5000m, Keith used it. She said the pressure lifted once her preferred race had gone, freeing her to run without expectations. Two fellow Scots in the field — Eloise Walker, 15th, and Laura Muir, 16th — helped her stay composed through the early laps.

Keith made her move with four laps remaining, weaving past early pacesetters from Kenya and Uganda. From there she held her ground against a field that included one of the season's most formidable middle-distance runners in Hull.

After the race, Keith was direct about what had driven her. "I wasn't racing for a medal tonight," she said. "I was racing to prove to myself what I'm capable of." Athletics Weekly

For Davies, the 5000m completed a double. She had already won the 10,000m earlier in the programme, making her the standout distance runner of Glasgow 2026. Hull, a proven championship performer, added another major medal to her collection but could not find a way past her teammate when it mattered.

For Keith, the bronze caps a season that has already included that European 10km road record in February and a 5000m of 14:49.22 at Parliament Hill Fields. The Scotstoun performance shaved a hundredth off that mark and delivered her first Commonwealth medal on home soil.

And then she turned round and ran into the crowd. The grandad found her first.