Australian weightlifter Kyle Bruce has been sensationally denied a gold medal by officials after he was deemed to have used an illegal technique.

Bruce won the silver medal in the men’s 81kg final, but it could have been gold he walked away with had the competition jury not intervened after what looked like a winning lift.

Attempting to clean and jerk 183kg, Bruce summoned all his strength and held the weight above his head for long enough until all three green lights were illuminated, before throwing down the bar and roaring triumphantly.

It looked like it might be enough for gold, having beaten leading Englishman Chris Murray’s best attempt of 181kg - until the jury started to confer after Bruce’s lift.

Upon review, they deemed Bruce had used a press-out technique while lifting the winning weight, and ruled it a no-lift, bumping Bruce back into second spot.

A contemplative and humble Bruce told 7SPORT afterwards while he was disappointed not to win gold, it just had not been his day.

“I haven’t seen the video, so I’m not sure, but sometimes that’s just how sport goes. Congratulations to Chris on winning it, he was the good lifter on the day and I just got a bit unlucky there,” he said.

“My only focus and goal going into this Commonwealth Games was to win that gold medal for Australia and coming away with silver is, not going to lie, quite disappointing when I set my standards very high.

“But that’s just how sport goes sometimes and I’ll be ready for 2026 and I’ll come back and have some redemption.”

An emotional Bruce dedicated his medal to his father, who passed away in 2015.

“I wear his shirt so he’s always there with me. This one’s for him,” he said.

It was the second time in as many days an Australian athlete was relegated from a medal position after drawing the ire of the officials, after Matthew Glazetzer lost his bronze medal in the men’s individual sprint.

Officials deemed Glaetzer was culpable after he and Englishman Jack Carlin briefly went shoulder-to-shoulder in the decisive race in the bronze medal ride for the sprint, which Glaetzer won before judges intervened.