Two-time World Championships bronze medallist wheelchair racer Melanie Woods has set a new Games record at Glasgow 2026.

Woods made her debut at Birmingham 2022, where she came in fourth in the 1500m T54 category, though since she has since had extensive experience in racing.

Melanie told us ahead of Glasgow 2026: “Birmingham (2022) was one of my first international competitions, so even though fourth is usually a horrible place to finish, I was actually really pleased,”

“I’m coming back as a completely different athlete with four years of international racing under my belt, so I’m really excited to see what I can do.” 

Woods put on an incredible show on day six of Glasgow 2026, storming right out of the gate and avoiding a crash that took out nearly half the field. Though while she took gold the first time around, she was forced to defend her title just two days later when the Paralympic authorities called for the match to be restaged following the crash.

On July 29, day six of the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, Melanie Woods broke the Women's 1500m T54 record with a time of 3:33.39, beating the previous record, 3:36.97, held by Canadian Diane Roy set at Gold Coast 2018 by three seconds. She's still short of the unbelievable World Record, 3:02.26 set by Swiss Catherine Debrunner from the 51st Swiss Nationals in Arbon, 2025.

The 31-year-old Glasgow resident trained extensively alongside training partner Sammi Kinghorn and coach at the Red Star Athletics Club in Glasgow, and it's clearly paid off if these results are anything to go by. It's Mel's record that's the one to beat heading into Amdavad 2030.