The time is now for Australian athletics after a historic night in Glasgow, where our track-and-field team secured a record gold medal haul at Scotstoun Stadium.

Much has been made about the blossoming strength in the nation’s athletics, and it all came together for the first time at international level, as Australia brought home seven gold medals on the penultimate day of action at the Commonwealth Games.

It beats the six the nation took home in a single day in 1950 to set a new benchmark, on a day where Australia also passed the 150 mark for medals at these Games.

The highlight was the men’s 4x100m relay final, where Lachlan Kennedy, Josh Azzopardi, Calab Law and Rohan Browning put together a scintillating performance to claim Australia’s first victory in the event since 1974.

Having become the fastest-ever Aussie in the 100m final, Kennedy burst out of the blocks to set up a healthy advantage off the turn before an aggressive handover to Azzopardi.

He and Law kept up the momentum as Browning charged home to hold off a fast-finishing field, including Olympic champions Canada, to win by 0.04 seconds in a time of 38.07.

“I don’t think I’ve ever run quite that scared in my life. I was just running for that line,” Browning said.

“Four years ago I tripped over and got the team DQ’d in the heats, and I had to carry that burden, so this hopefully wipes the slate clean, and this is probably the most special moment of my career.

“These guys did all the hard work, put me in a winning position. All I had to do was hold on.”

WA’s Kurtis Marschall became the first-ever three-time Commonwealth men’s pole vault champion in a dominant final performance in which he set a new Games record.

The blustery conditions that affected Nina Kennedy yesterday fortunately eased somewhat as he completed four perfect jumps to claim gold, with no other finalists clearing 5.80m

With his title secured, Marschall cleared 5.85m on his second attempt to take the long-standing record set by Steve Hooker 20 years ago in Melbourne.

“It’s honestly what I’ve been dying to do the last couple of years. I really wanted to defend my title, go back-to-back, back-to-back,” he said.

It’s an honour every time I get to put on the green and gold. I’m planning on never quitting; I just wanna do this forever and go to every Comm Games ever.”

He wasn’t the only local talent to find success as para sprinter Rhiannon Clarke finally found the gold she had been chasing with an outstanding 200m run.

Having finished fourth in the 100m final and claimed silver and bronze at Gold Coast and Birmingham, Clarke finally reached the top step after pulling out a season’s best run to mow down England’s Sophie Hahn over the final 50m, with fellow Aussie Briseis Brittain taking bronze.

“It feels so cool, I’ve always wanted to be a gold medallist. I feel like it’s everyone’s dream,” she said.

“I definitely didn’t do it alone, but all that work we’ve put in has definitely paid off.

Australia claimed a historic trifecta in the women’s one mile with Abbey Caldwell finishing ahead of Jess Hull and Claudia Hollingworth to become the first nation to sweep the podium in that event.

Caldwell made the decisive move on the back straight of the final lap with Hull following her as Hollingworth came from nowhere to charge past the pack and secure the bronze.

It was our second sweep of the night after Jemma Montag, Elizabeth McMillen and Rebecca Henderson went 1-2-3 in the women’s 10km walk final.

Mackenzie Little won Australia’s sixth gold from the past nine women’s javelin final events at the Commonwealth Games, setting a benchmark of 61.88m with her first throw that no one else came close to matching.

“I’m so relieved and excited; this is so fantastic. Nailing the first throw is maybe something to do with how my training’s been a bit quality over quantity in the last couple of years,” she said.

Earlier, Matthew Denny became the first man in 68 years to defend his Commonwealth title, overcoming tricky conditions to throw 67.73m, more than 2m clear of Jamaica’s Fedrick Dacres in second.

Yet such is the strength of the team at the moment that there was still room for disappointment with Cam Myers filthy with himself after getting bogged down and finishing second in the men’s one mile behind world record holder and Scotland hero Josh Kerr.

“That was just an awful race; I couldn’t even give him a challenge, so that’s the disappointing part,” he said.

“One of the poorest executions that could have eventuated and that’s all thanks to my wrongdoing.

“I just put myself in a terrible position and never made a conscious effort to get out.

“When Kerr made his move, he had a jump on me, and you can’t give someone that at this level, and he smashed me in the end.”

Peter Bol was a distant seventh in the men’s 800m final has he faded badly in the closing stages as he seemingly ran out of legs having set the pace early.

Luke Boyes took a well-deserved silver as he stormed home just nine weeks after tearing his calf in the lead-up to the competition.

There was disaster in the mixed 4x400m relay as Australia headed into the final changeover in second place only for Jemma Pollard to seize up and collapse before the finish, before hobbling over for seventh before they were later disqualified.

“I think I just gave the first 300 absolutely everything and I had nothing left,” she said.

“I just got crazy lactic.”

The women’s 4x100m relay team finished 0.02 seconds outside of a medal as Torrie Lewis couldn’t quite close the gap to Trinidad and Tobago despite a strong final leg.