England Star Misses Wedding to Compete Again After Losing Commonwealth Games Medal

DEVASTATED Ellis Kottas is missing a relative’s wedding this weekend after she missed out on a medal in a wheelchair race that had to be rerun.

Kottas, 22, crossed the line in third spot on Wednesday evening but when Nandini Sharma was booted out of the women’s T54 1500 metres final.

Ellis Kottas revealed she had to miss a family wedding to re-run her Commonwealth games race Credit: PA Kottas had secured a silver medal before it was decided the race had to be re-run Credit: Getty

Protests from Team Mauritius and Team Australia – which were accepted by officials – argued that Canadian Sharma, who had been second behind winner Melanie Woods, had caused FOUR crashes.

The decision to rerun the race on Friday morning – 39 hours after the original final – was only made on Thursday and Kottas came fourth in the replayed event.

The Sevenoaks star, , said: “It’s very mixed emotions.

“Obviously it’s a slight disappointment but there’s still a lot of excitement. I mean I’m at the and I finished fourth.

“Yes, I didn’t medal and that might have happened if I had a better start and gotten into a pack.

“If I had that original medal, it wouldn’t have been on my own merit, especially with half the competitors wiped out basically.”

Kottas had been due to attend a wedding abroad on Saturday but axed travel plans when she learned she was going to race yesterday.

The Kent wheelchair competitor said: “My mum had to go home because we have a wedding in Belgium, which I’ll be missing, but my dad has stayed up.

Gold in both races went to Scotland’s Melanie Woods Credit: Getty

“I was actually the ringbearer, but it’s fine. It’s my aunt’s wedding and she’s very happy for me to be here – I’ve not got enough time to get there.

“It’s fine. It was an incredible experience here and she definitely understands and has been watching online.”

Woods, 31, won the original final in a Games record of 3:33.39 and then went 1.19 seconds quicker at Scotstoun Stadium.

The Glasgow star joked: “Not many people get two laps of honour, and I definitely milked that today.

“I’m just appreciative to still have friends and family in the crowd.

“I mean it was back and forth for a long time, we were getting medals, it was pushed back and then it wasn’t until 12 at night that we found out it was going to be rerun.

“But we still didn’t know. So unfortunately it took a long time for the decision to be made.

“Listen, that’s the nature of it. It’s a grey area and that makes it a hard decision to make, and someone falls on the wrong side of the fence, which is unfortunate.

“I think my mum would have been watching that with one eye closed with nerves – I don’t know if she was here today.

“I don’t think she was – unfortunately she broke her hip a few weeks ago.

“I feel like three nights on the trot might have been a bit much for her – she was definitely here Wednesday night.

“I spotted friends and family members but didn’t spot her. With a broken hip I’m not sure she’d be jumping up and down. She would have been harder to spot.”