The heartbeat of the 2026 Commonwealth Games is growing louder with just 10 days remaining until the Athletics and Para-athletics program takes over in Glasgow, inspiring 10 talking points on a team with endless storylines.
Since the Women’s Pole Vault was introduced at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, Australia has won six of the seven gold medals, with Nina Kennedy looking to build upon that conversion rate in Glasgow. The 2022 champion will look to join Alana Boyd (2010, 2014) as a two-time winner, with single titles to Emma George (1998), Tatiana Grigorieva (2002) and Kym Howe (2006).
No Australian able-bodied man has won a Commonwealth Games medal over 100m or 200m since the events were measured in yards, dating back to Michael Cleary (100 yards bronze) in 1962 and John Trealor (220 yards gold) in 1950. With the likes of Lachlan Kennedy, Eddie Osei-Nketia and Aidan Murphy ready to rumble – can the boys end the drought?
Welcoming back the mile distance after a 60-year absence at the Commonwealth Games, Australia’s middle-distance stars are ready to make history in Glasgow. World-leader Cameron Myers, defending champion Oliver Hoare and Adam Spencer headline the action for the men, while Jessica Hull, Abbey Caldwell and Claudia Hollingsworth will look to do what no Australian woman has ever done – win Commonwealth Games gold in the 1500m / Mile.
Hurdler Michelle Jenneke, high jumper Eleanor Patterson and Para-athletics veteran Ella Pardy are the only three Australian team members in Athletics who will come full circle from the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where Patterson won gold as an 18-year-old.
Oliver Hoare (1500m), Matthew Denny (Discus Throw), Jemima Montag (10,000m Race Walk), Nina Kennedy (Pole Vault) and Kurtis Marschall (Pole Vault) will all look to defend their 2022 Commonwealth titles from Birmingham, making up Australia’s five defending champions.
Australia’s team of 86 athletes features nine teenagers, with the nation’s youth headlined by the 15-year-old Para-athletics duo of Lexie Brown and Ayla Kowalcyzk, while at the top end of the teenage bracket is reigning World Under 20 long jump champion Delta Amidzovski.
Only the great Pam Ryan (Hurdles) and Jane Saville (Race Walks) have won three consecutive gold medals in the same event as Australians at the Commonwealth Games, with pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall looking to join them in esteemed company as the back-to-back champion from the Gold Coast and Birmingham.
Teenager Isaac Beacroft is the only Australian athlete attempting a rare double when racing the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and World Under 20 Championships in Oregon just one week apart, with the record-breaking race walker hoping to build on his budding international resume at both events.
Five Indigenous Australians will take to the track in Athletics as Olympic sprinter Calab Law leads the charge for emerging Para-athletes Briseis Brittain, Lexie Brown, Layla Sharp and Thomas McGough – Brittain the first Northern Territory athlete to represent Australia since the 2012 Paralympic Games.
The Commonwealth Games stage has been a happy hunting ground for Australian relay teams and fresh off a historic World Athletics Relays campaign in Botswana, the nation’s sprinters are ready to light up the three relays on the program – the Men’s 4x100m, Women’s 4x100m and Mixed 4x400m.
The Athletics and Para-athletics program at the 2026 Commonwealth Games will take place in Glasgow from July 27 – August 1, with Australian viewers able to tune in live and free via Channel 7.
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Australian Athletics
Posted 17/7/2026
