Kiwi Cyclist Wins First Gold, Honors Late Grandma

Devon Briggs stood on the podium in Glasgow, taking deep breaths to hold back tears as New Zealand's national anthem played. The 22-year-old para cyclist had just won his first Commonwealth Games gold medal, but his grandma wasn't there to see it.

Briggs dominated the men's 1000m time trial C1-3 race on Saturday, beating Australia's Gordon Allan with a Games record time of 1 minute 05.536 seconds at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome. When he crossed the finish line, he raised his arms and roared to the crowd, letting the moment wash over him.

"I never thought this day would come," he told Sky Sport. "To get out there and race in front of the world is just amazing."

But the celebration carried bittersweet emotions. This was the first major competition where his grandmother wasn't watching and supporting him from the stands or back home in Cambridge.

"I just wanted to cry. It's just so special," Briggs said. "This is one of the first comps I've done where my grandma is not here. She's watching me somewhere. I know she'd be proud."

Born with club feet, Briggs has transformed into one of para cycling's rising stars. Since 2023, he's collected multiple medals at world championships, including two golds in Rio over the past two years in the time trial and scratch race.

His journey hasn't been easy. At the 2024 Paris Paralympics, Briggs competed despite suffering a serious training injury beforehand, finishing fifth and seventh in his events. But he kept pushing, kept training, kept racing.

WHY THIS INSPIRES: Grief doesn't stop when we achieve our dreams. Sometimes our biggest victories arrive in the shadow of our deepest losses. Briggs could have let the absence of his grandmother weigh him down, but instead he carried her memory with him onto the track. His tears on the podium weren't just about winning gold. They were about honoring someone who believed in him, who supported every pedal stroke of his journey, who made this moment possible even though she couldn't be there to see it.

Back in New Zealand, his family woke up through the night to watch him race. They saw him become a champion. They saw him remember the woman who helped shape that champion.

His gold medal became New Zealand's sixth of the Games, proof that determination and love create unstoppable momentum.