Commonwealth Games: How Ben Sandilands received tremendous support for gold medal run
Kirkcaldy para athletics star Ben Sandilands received tremendous backing from his friends and family when winning the Commonwealth Games T20 men’s 1500m crown at Scotstoun Stadium on Monday evening.
Fife Athletic Club star Sandilands (3:57.25) produced a stunning final lap to power away from Canadian Michael Barber (4:01.84) and Scotland team-mate Steven Bryce (4:02.40) and land the gold medal at his home games.
“I’m absolutely delighted Ben won,” the 22-year-old’s proud dad Rory told the Fife Free Press. “It was a close race between Ben, Steven and the Canadian athlete, very competitive.
"Ben had a hamstring injury last year which caused him to miss competing at the World Para Athletics Championships in India last year during a tough period of recovery. But with the confidence of having had the success in Paris at the Paralympics (Ben won the T20 1500m gold in 2024), I think he felt in quite a strong position.
"Everything had been focused on Ben getting back and getting fit for the Commonwealth Games. Obviously it was a home games and he wanted to demonstrate what he could do there.
"The enthusiasm and the weight of expectation coupled together meant it was quite a tense race for him. But he handled the pressure and the occasion really well and in that last lap I thought he did really well.
"He managed to get to the front and then really accelerated which was great to see. The whole family (partly including Ben’s mum Claire and his siblings Jake and Katie) was there.
"There were lots of friends, training buddies of Ben and lots of people from Fife watching.
"The stadium was really well decked out in all the Commonwealth stuff.
"Because it’s a smaller stadium you are so close to the track and it was a fantastic atmosphere with some great competition in some of the other events as well.
"We had a great night and it was very enjoyable.”
Rory reiterated the fact that it had taken a considerable effort to rebuild Ben’s confidence and race speed following last year’s injury absence, stressing the importance of coach Steve Doig and Scottish Athletics’ physios and strength and conditioning coaches in providing fantastic support to help his rehabilitation.
The 49-year-old dad added: “I think Ben still gets nervous when competing but he does a good job managing it.
"He has got big race experience and knows he can do it although the weight of expectation with maybe being one of the favourites was a different experience for him.
"But I thought he handled it very well.
"My mum and dad and my wife’s mum and dad, my brother, his wife and one of his daughters were there as well.
"So we had the whole crew there in different parts of the stadium to cheer Ben on.
"Ben didn’t come home with us. He did his media bit afterwards and then he had all his official stuff to do after he’d been presented with his medal, so we didn’t see him after the medal ceremony. He did the warm down and then there was drug testing.
"So all the celebrations at home are still to come.”