Updated ,first published
Just weeks ago, Torrie Lewis sat on the track and cried. It was only the warm-up for training, and she couldn’t even get through that without pain knifing up her leg.
If it were not for the Commonwealth Games coming up, she would have put a line through her season.
The same Achilles that had torn last year and cruelled her season was screaming at her again. She hadn’t torn it again, but it was not right. The injury forced her to pull out of what would have been her last competition before the Commonwealth Games, where the athletics program begins next Monday.
With her Achilles the way it was, she doubted she could run the sprint double and the sprint relay. So she went to Slovakia for the PTS meet in Banska Bystrica not knowing what would happen.
She was there for clarity – she told this masthead in a pre-Games interview that what happened in Slovakia would be the decider for her schedule in Glasgow.
She will now certainly run the sprint double at the Commonwealth Games, after breaking the national record, her own national 100-metre record and nearly becoming the first Australian woman to break 11 seconds.
She also beat a five-time Olympic champion in the process, won the 200m and most importantly was pain free when she ran – and woke up with her Achilles feeling good.
“I just saw it was a strong field with Elaine Thompson [Herah from Jamaica, a five-time Olympic champion] and just wanted to try and win it. I wasn’t thinking of a record at all but am thrilled that I ran well and broke it,” said Lewis, who ran 11.04 seconds. She won her 200m in 22.66s.
“I was just really happy, I’ve been watching her [Thompson-Herah] for so many years winning at the Olympics and of course I know she is not in her peak shape, but it’s pretty cool to beat someone of that calibre. And I was very happy to have a hug with her at the end.
“I feel like I could run again today. So that does help my confidence going into Glasgow, knowing how busy the schedule is.”
For perspective, Lewis broke the national record when in normal circumstances she would not be running.
“[Slovakia] was the last part of the plan my coach wanted me to do,” she said in the interview before the meet.
“I am a little bit unsure. Normally six days out from a competition I would not want to compete, but I am really unsure where I am at.
“Last year I tore my Achilles and I missed a lot of competitions, a lot of training, but I came back and literally the first outdoor competition in China it started hurting again. I was worried. It’s the same one.
“You would say that I couldn’t expect much of myself given the impact on training, but my last race in Scotland I ran my second-fastest time .06 outside my PB so that’s why I wanted to do this competition in Slovakia and see if I can keep momentum.
“I still have good hopes of what I can do. It [Scotland] surprised me, but I have been so determined all year to run well in Glasgow even if I am in pain.
“The pain has gotten better this last week and a half but a couple of weeks ago it was so bad I was crying just warming up. If I was not so determined to run at the Comm Games I would have pulled the plug on the season and started again for sure.
“I really want to go to Glasgow. I have spoken to the physios from Australia and the Netherlands and had scans and they think running on it won’t make it worse, it will just be painful. It’s not at risk of tearing again. It didn’t need surgery last time and I don’t think it will this time.
“My results won’t change a lot between [Slovakia] and Glasgow, you cannot improve a lot in a week and a half, but hopefully a major championship I am able to run a bit better.”
Queenslander Lewis first broke the national record as a 19-year-old in Canberra in 2024 when she ran 11.10 seconds, beating Melissa Breen’s record from 2014 of 11.11s. Lewis lowered that time again during heats at last year’s world athletics championships with a run of 11.08.
This latest record comes just months after Lewis was retrospectively awarded the gold medal in March for the 200m at the 2024 under-20 world championships after winner Adaejah Hodge had tested positive for a banned metabolic modulator.
Hodge, who competes for the Virgin Islands, received a heavy discount to her ban which will allow her to compete in Glasgow, setting up a showdown with Lewis as Hodge has been named to race in the 100m and 200m.
Lewis is scheduled to run in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay in Glasgow after being named in the 55-member Australian team along with fellow rising sprint stars Lachlan Kennedy (100m, 200m and 4x100m relay) and Eddie Nketia (100m).
The competition is a valuable international building block on the path to the LA 2028 Olympic Games.
Young sensation Gout Gout will not compete in Glasgow, having planned to run at this year’s world under-20 championships instead, but that was shelved after he suffered a serious hamstring injury in training. He is expected to be out of competition until next year.
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