Josh Kerr blazed down the final lap as the partisan crowd in Glasgow’s Scotstoun Stadium rose to its feet and applauded. Their star runner had just clinched the gold medal in men’s One Mile at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2026 with a timing of three minutes 54.12 seconds.At one moment, it looked like it might be a Scottish one-two on the podium but Jake Wightman faded away in the last 100m, as Australia’s Cameron Myers took silver and Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot bagged bronze.“It means everything — this was the championship of my season. With the World Indoors and going after that record in London, this was the one I had circled in the calendar before any of that,” Kerr told TNT Sports.Coming into the CWG, Kerr was the outright favourite after breaking Hicham El Guerrouj’s 27-year-old record in London last month.The race was a fitting tribute to the return of the famous event to the CWG programme after a 60-year absence. Kenyan great Kip Keino won the last men’s Mile race at the Games, clocking a Games-record time of three minutes 55.34 seconds in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1966.Men’s Mile was one of the blue-riband events of CWG before the metric era took over and 1500m was included into the program. The race was immortalized in 1954 when the two athletes who breached the four-minute barrier, Roger Bannister and John Landy, ran in the race dubbed as ‘The Miracle Mile’.While it lost relevance due to the metric system, the race was resurrected in the 1980s with a series of epic battles between Britons Steve Ovett, Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram, who swapped the world record six times between them.Story continues below this adOne of those men from the 1980s, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe, was responsible for getting the event back to the CWG programme.“The One Mile is the quintessential Commonwealth athletics event whose return to the Games in Glasgow 2026 I very much welcome,” Coe had said. “The event’s place in international sporting lore was secured when Sir Roger Bannister broke the four-minute barrier in May 1954. Ever since, the world has enjoyed the Miracle Mile, the Golden Mile, the Dream Mile and countless other similarly dubbed races over the distance.”Kerr’s dominanceThe 2023 world champion in 1500m, Kerr announced two weeks before the London Diamond League that he would break El Guerrouj’s world record. Staying true to his word, Kerr clocked 3:42.66, obliterating Guerrouj’s record.On Saturday night, he again produced an audacious performance. At the 1100m mark, Kerr was placed ninth. As the last lap started, he elbowed and barged his way to the front before producing a devastating kick, leaving everyone chasing him behind and crossing the finish line comfortably.Story continues below this ad“London was a big stress, pushing my body to the absolute extreme limit. Doing a championship race is a nice clean palate, really using your brain instead of your body, and it’s how I love to race. It doesn’t get any better than this — this is absolutely incredible. To do it in front of a Scottish crowd where I learned to race — I came here week after week growing up as a kid,” Kerr said.Australia sweep women’s MileThe return of One Mile marked another historic moment as for the first time, women athletes participated in the famous race. While the men’s final was chaotic, the women’s final was lopsided with Australia sweeping the podium.As Abbey Caldwell, Jess Hull and Claudia Hollingsworth went around the track four times, there was no one who could better them.Lining up alongside each other, Caldwell burst off the line while Hull held back as Hollingsworth settled into the pack ahead of her. It was a slow race but with 200m to go, Caldwell burst clear and Hull joined her. While Hull couldn’t match Caldwell, she won her second silver medal after finishing behind Rose Davies in the 5000m.Story continues below this adAs these two Aussies finished the race, Hollingworth found the space and energy to burst past Naomi Korir and claim bronze.With no clarity over the future of event in the CWG programme, the return of the once fabled event was suitably chaotic and colourful.