Australia has a special relationship with the Commonwealth Games.
Our athletes have long embraced the opportunity to represent their country, treating the Games with the same pride and significance as the Olympics.
We are one of six countries to have competed at every Commonwealth Games and stand as the most successful nation in the event’s history, with more than 1000 gold medals spanning almost a century.
And I don’t think anything’s going to change in Glasgow.
Glasgow 2026 will undoubtedly look different.
Through circumstance, Scotland will deliver a streamlined Games that preserves so much of what makes the event unique.
Despite a reduced number of sports, Australia has a genuine chance of coming home with 50 gold medals, which would be staggering, considering there are only ten sports on the program.
Few events capture the rich history of the Games better than the return of the Commonwealth Mile – which replaces the 1500m – for the first time in 60 years.
The ‘Miracle Mile’ of legend pitted John Landy against Roger Bannister at the 1954 Games in Vancouver, producing one of the greatest races in the history of athletics.
In the men’s mile, we’ll see the return of Birmingham hero Olli Hoare, who’s one of only two Australians with Herb Elliott to have won this event.
But all eyes will be on 20-year-old Cam Myers. In his last two races prior to Glasgow, Cam smashed two of Olli’s records – the first over 1500 in Paris and then over the mile in Eugene.
That win in America was in the Bowerman Mile at the Prefontaine Classic – regarded as one of the most prestigious races in world athletics.
But to win in Glasgow, Myers will have to overcome three recent world champions, two of them Scots.
Jake Wightman is the 2022 title holder, and Josh Kerr took that from him the following year – and they’ll have the full weight of their nation cheering them on.
Also lining up will be Kenyan Timothy Cheruiyot, the 2019 world champion. And our own defending champion Olli Hoare.
If Cam Myers can win against this field, it would rank among the defining performances of these Commonwealth Games.
One of the greatest strengths of the event continues to be its fully integrated Para-sport program.
From 14-year-old visually impaired swimmer Mia Hogan to 76-year-old para lawn bowler Louise Hoskins, the Australian team showcases an incredible diversity of talent, experience and determination.
In the 100m freestyle, Lakeisha Patterson is the first Australian female swimmer to compete in four Commonwealth Games.
She’s battled early onset Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy and cerebral palsy left hemiplegia to take three Paralympic gold medals, four World Championships and two Commonwealth Games gold.
Also in the pool, Mollie O’Callaghan and Kyle Chalmers arrive as two of our biggest talents. Mollie already has five Commonwealth Games gold medals to her name and will contest seven events, while Kyle has seven gold medals and is entered in five.
The all-time Commonwealth Games record sits with Emma McKeon on 14 gold medals, with Ian Thorpe, Susie O’Neill and Leisel Jones right behind her with 10.
Mollie and Kyle both have every chance of cracking double figures to move into that elite group, potentially becoming the second-most successful Commonwealth Games athletes of all time, and closing in on McKeon’s benchmark.
In cycling, the big race is the matchup in the track sprint between Australia’s Leigh Hoffman and now riding for England, Matthew Richardson.
Just four years ago they were teammates, winning team sprint gold for Australia in Birmingham alongside Matthew Glaetzer, before Richardson switched allegiance to the old enemy.
Now they meet as rivals in a contest that has all the ingredients of a modern grudge match, echoing the great Meares–Pendleton rivalry.
It’s Australia versus England with added personal edge – and for Hoffman, a chance to defeat a former teammate on the biggest stage.
The men’s sprinters have a chance to make history.
No Australian man has won a Commonwealth Games medal in the 100 metres since 1962, while the last Australian medal in the men’s 200 metres came way back in 1950.
Athletes like Lachie Kennedy, Eddie Nketia, Rohan Browning and Aidan Murphy will get their chance to end the drought and write a new chapter in Australian sprinting.
That achievement would be even more significant, given the standard of global sprinting
. At last year’s World Championships, six of the eight finalists in the men’s 100m came from Commonwealth nations.
That’s how hard this event is. Our middle-distance women are stars, led by Jess Hull, who is taking on the women’s mile and 5000m double – a feat achieved only once before at the Commonwealth Games back in 1990.
She’s joined by Abbey Caldwell, Claudia Hollingsworth and Sarah Billings, giving real depth and strong medal chances across the middle distances.
Then, there’s Matt Denny in the discus.
He’s deservedly become one of the most popular athletes in Australian sport.
An Olympic bronze medallist and Commonwealth Games gold and silver medallist, he arrives in Glasgow as the hot favourite and at the time of writing boasts the longest throw in the world this year.
And then there’s Nina Kennedy.
Olympic Champion, World Champion, Commonwealth Champion and a genuine leader of the Australian team.
Nina’s coming back from a career- threatening injury and, as always, will have the nation behind her.
We cannot wait to see what she has in store in Glasgow.
The Commonwealth Games has always produced memories that endure long after the medals have been awarded.
From the Miracle Mile in 1954, Cathy Freeman’s emergence as a teenage sensation at Auckland 1990 and Olli Hoare’s historic 1500m gold in Birmingham, these moments have become part of our story.
Glasgow offers the opportunity to create the next chapter.
I’m genuinely as excited and optimistic as I’ve ever been heading into Glasgow 2026.
I know we’ll be amazed and uplifted and I expect our reputation as a sporting nation to be soundly reinforced.
By Bruce McAvaney OAM, Courtesy of Channel 7
Posted 14 July 2026
