Five things not to miss on Day 8 of the Games
How is it the weekend already? Day eight is here, and ahead of the absolute madness in store on Saturday (44 medals), Friday has a manageable 22 golds to keep track of. We’re deep into action on the track, field, Netball court, Bowls rink and velodrome, and let’s give a big Glasgow 2026 welcome to the Judoka.
Key numbers:
- Six sports in action
- 22 golds available
- 10 in Athletics and Para Athletics
- Seven in Track Cycling and Para Track Cycling
- Five in Judo
Enter our Dojo
🥋 Not long to go now until judo champion Emma Reid defends her Commonwealth title!
— Hits Radio Cambridgeshire News (@HitsCambsNews) July 31, 2026
🥇 She’s set to go in the -78kg class in Glasgow on Sunday, having won gold in 2022.
🎥 We’ve been to Melbourn Judo Club where Emma trained to see how the next wave of stars are getting on pic.twitter.com/3QxNg7kWNW
Judo gets underway at the SEC Centre, and these lads and lasses are not messing around - we have five gold medals on Friday, with practitioners of the Japanese martial art trying to deliver an ippon (point-scoring move) and progress to the next round. We have got some top contenders on the mat, including Canada's Heidi Quach, Tinka Easton of Australia, English judoka Acelya Toprak, Australia's Josh Katz, and Petros Christodoulides of Cyprus.
Stacked track pack
The field at the velodrome is world class, and on Friday triple-Birmingham-2022 medallist Nicholas Paul (pictured), from Trinidad and Tobago, will be seeking to defend his Keirin title. Elsewhere in a star-studded line up, the triple gold medallist (and one silver) from four years ago, New Zealand’s Ellesse Andrews, goes in a stacked Women’s Sprint contest, which could also feature England’s Sophie Capewell and Katy Marchant, and Welsh sensation Emma Finucane.
Javelin showdown
India and Pakistan are timeless rivals on the cricket ground - but who would have thought they would be going crazy for the javelin from Karachi to Kerala? By a quirk of fate, two of the greatest field athletes on the planet are India's Neeraj Chopra and Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan. Chopra is the 2020 Olympic champion and has won most of the duo’s previous head-to-heads, but Nadeem took gold at Paris 2024 and is defending champion here.
Scottish hopes in Para Track Cycling
Flower of Scotland has rung out regularly during Glasgow 2026, and there are two big hopes for the Scots Para riders at the velodrome on Friday. Neah Evans grew up in Langbank, just outside Glasgow, and goes in the Women’s 10km Scratch; Fin Graham was raised in the Scottish Highlands and won the road race at Paris 2024 - he rides in the Men’s C1-3 1000m Time Trial Final.
Walk this way (or you’ll be disqualified)
The first gold of the #WorldAthleticsChamps 🥇
— Glasgow 2026 (@Glasgow_2026) September 13, 2025
Congrats to 10km race walking Commonwealth champion, Evan Dunfee!
📸 Mattia Ozbot for World Athletics pic.twitter.com/5SehstjWnx
The unique spectacle that is the Men’s 10,000m Race Walk unfolds on Friday, and a true master of the discipline, Canada's Evan Dunfee, is among the line-up. He will be looking to retain the title he won at Birmingham 2022. Elsewhere, the Decathlon reaches its conclusion, there’s the Men’s and Women’s 200m finals, and England's Georgia Hunter Bell - the world indoor 1500m champion - contests the Women’s 800m.