Top sprinter Benjamin Azamati and national record holder Abdul-Rasheed Saminu recorded impresive times to both win their respective 100m heats to advance to the semi finals of the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland on Monday morning.
Saminu was first out for Ghana in heat 2, blazing to first place in a time for 10.01 seconds, while Azamati followed suit in heat 5 in 10.00 seconds to equal his season’s best, underlining his excellent form as he chases a place on the podium for Ghana. Azamati also recorded the best time of all 75 sprinters who took part in the heats, just a hundredth of a second faster than Saminu in second place, indication of the pair’s strong medal chances.
Ghana's fastest man Abdul-Rasheed Saminu wins 100m heat 2 in 10.01 seconds and is through to the next semi-finals at the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games #CommonwealthGames #games pic.twitter.com/hmv0q0Kwl8
— DailyGraphic GraphicOnline (@Graphicgh) July 27, 2026
Benjamin Azamati, on his part, also topped heat 5 of 100m in 10.00s, equaling his season best and through to the semi-finals.
Benjamin Azamati also tops heat 5 of 100m in 10.00s, equalling his season best and through to the semis at ongoing #Commonwealth Games in Glasgow #CommonwealthGames pic.twitter.com/z0A4cnygWf
— DailyGraphic GraphicOnline (@Graphicgh) July 27, 2026
The two will run in the first two heats of the semi finals respectively on Tuesday evening against a tough field that includes the likes of Accra 2026 African Athletics champion Emmanuel Eseme of Cameroon and highly decorated Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala. The finals and medal ceremony will follow shortly after, as the two Ghanaians seek a first Commonwealth Games podium.
Ghana’s third men’s sprinter Isaac Botsio however slipped at the beginning of his race and even though he recovered to finish fourth in heat 9 in a relatively good time of 10.40, he missed out on qualification to the final.
In the women’s 100m, 23-year-old Deborah Acheampong also failed to make it into the semis after finishing 3rd in her heat, despite clocking an impressive time of 11.66s. Botsio and Acheampong will wait for another crack at a medal when they team up with both of Ghana’s 4×100 men and women’s teams in the relays later this week.
Meanwhile in swimming and para swimming, national recorder holder Nubia Adjei and sole para swimmer Promise Aheto recorded impressive times in their respective races, but both fell short of progress.
Adjei finished 4th in the women’s 50m backstroke heat in 30.91s, while Aheto clocked 1:41.59 in the Men’s 100m breaststroke (SB9) to qualify as a reserve for the final but eventually couldn’t make it at his debut Commonwealth Games.
Ghana’s competition in both athletics and para athletics continue this evening with West Texas A&M star Abigail Abugire seeking qualification from the women’s 800m heats, while experienced thrower Zinabu Issah contests the women’s F57 shot put final, aiming to deliver the country’s first para athletics medal of the Games.
