Scotland's Melanie Woods won gold in the restaged women's 1500m T54 final at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games on Friday 31 July, reclaiming the title she had briefly held — then lost — after the original race descended into chaos.

The T54 classification covers wheelchair racers with full arm and hand function but no trunk or leg function. The 1500m final was the opening race of the night on Day 6, Wednesday 29 July, when it was disrupted by a major first-lap collision. The Guardian reported four crashes and three overturned wheelchairs, plus a disqualification. Woods crossed the line first in a Commonwealth Games record of 3:33.39 and was initially awarded gold, according to the official Glasgow 2026 website.

Then the appeal came. Glasgow 2026 organisers ruled the race should be restaged, and the medallists were revised on Thursday 30 July. The decision meant Woods had to line up again, this time on Friday morning, and prove herself a second time. She did. BBC Sport reported that Woods won gold "again in restaged race," confirming that the Scot reclaimed top spot on the podium.

Scotland teammate Joanna Robertson was also named among those preparing to compete in the restaged final, per The Guardian. The restaging took place on the morning of Day 8, fitting a rerun into an already packed schedule.

For any athlete, losing a gold medal you have already worn around your neck is a particular kind of test. Woods had broken the Games record. She had heard the anthem. Then she was told: do it again, against the same field, on a fresh morning with everything still to lose.

That she delivered under that pressure says something about composure that splits and finishing times cannot quite capture. The restaged race removes any asterisk from the result. Woods is the champion, decided twice over.

The controversy around the original race — the crashes, the overturned chairs, the disqualification — now sits in the background. The record of 3:33.39 set in the chaotic first running will not carry forward as the official mark, since that race's results were struck from the record. What remains is a clean race, a clear winner, and a Scottish para-athlete who answered every question the schedule threw at her.