How 'unfair' and surreal one v one swim-off played out at Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games in very strange scenes
By Leon Imber
Updated 29/07/2026 at 13:40 GMT+1
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Tuesday evening at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre saw rare scenes as Wales' Lewis Fraser and Nigeria's Abduljabar Adama took to the pool's middle lanes in a swim-off, bidding to make it to the men's 50m butterfly final at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games.
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That is because they recorded the exact same time in the semi-finals, which took place earlier on Tuesday evening, in a dead heat.
With the pair locked at 23.52 in joint-eighth place and only eight lanes being used for a competitive race, there was only one spot remaining - meaning they had to go head-to-head for a spot in the final, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday evening, but pushed back in light of the swim-off.
In the TNT Sports studio, Olympic silver medallist Michael Jamieson said Fraser and Adama would be disappointed at having to compete in an extra race.
"Just adding a little bit of drama to the night," Jamieson said before they got back into the pool.
"I think the boys will have a little bit of extra time, they’ll stick to the timeline and get a few more finals in as planned. That’ll give the guys an hour or so to rest, reset and get prepped again to go head-to-head.
"But that’ll look good with the two athletes in the centre of the pool, head-to-head, with a place in the Commonwealth final on the line."
Jamieson added: "If you’re stuck in a dead heat, or you have a play-off or swim off for the final, you’re absolutely gutted about it."
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Fellow former British track and field star Iwan Thomas suggested the extra round for Fraser and Adama was "unfair."
"It comes down to thousandths of a second, with the photo finish, then if you do have a dead heat, then quite often those athletes will share a medal or you get an identical time," he said.
"But what’s unfair about that, whatever athlete gets through, they’re going to have one more round in their body, they’ll be more tired than the other finalists. That’s a really tough situation."
Tongue in cheek, Thomas questioned: "Can’t they just dig out another lane for the final?"
When Fraser and Adama's battle finally got underway after 22:00 UK time, it was the Nigerian who prevailed, clocking 23.32 - shaving 0.20 off his semi-final time.
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