From two mouthwatering mile races to a sprinting slate headlined by Lachlan Kennedy and Torrie Lewis, Australia is primed for a historic track campaign at the Commonwealth Games featuring a host of Para-athletics medal hopefuls and race walking stars.
If there is an athlete on the planet right now who is fit for battle with freshly minted world record holder Josh Kerr (SCO) in front of a home crowd, his name is Cameron Myers (ACT, Dick Telford) and he is Australia’s own.
The 20-year-old wunderkid is enjoying his best season yet and is only missing major championship success on his growing resume. He can earn this in spades against what is arguably the hottest Athletics lineup of the Commonwealth Games featuring Kerr, Jake Wightman (SCO) and Timothy Cheruiyot (KEN).
With a Diamond League victory and Australian 1500m record of 3:28.00 under his belt, Myers will be joined by defending champion Oliver Hoare (NSW, Dathan Ritzenhein) and World Indoor medallist Adam Spencer (VIC, Tomasz Lewandowski) in the Men’s Mile, while the women’s race is set to be equally as hot.
Olympic silver medallist Jessica Hull (NSW, Simon Hull) bounced back to form with a victory over 3000m at the London Diamond last weekend, while Abbey Caldwell (VIC, Gavin Burren) is in the form of her life and will look to upgrade her bronze from Birmingham. Claudia Hollingsworth (VIC, Craig Mottram), at just 21, joins the party as the national champion and on the brink of a breakthrough.
The trio will be racing for a slice of history, as this is the first time the women’s Mile has been held at the Commonwealth Games, and no Australian woman has ever won the 1500m since it was first raced in 1970.
“London [Diamond League] was finally a marker that backs up the training and shows that I haven’t been delusional about the shape I’m in,” Hull said.
“Being able to perform on that stage was really important to be able to go through that motion of being relaxed, in control and very confident. I have a lot of belief in where I’m at.”
An Australian sprinting boom is being led by sub-10 second man Lachlan Kennedy (QLD, Andrew Iselin) and national record holder Torrie Lewis (QLD, Laurent Muewly) who are both slated to contest the 100m and 200m events, where Kennedy will be joined by a giant debutant in the form of Edward Osei-Nketia (ACT, Brenton Emmanuel) who is taking 2026 by storm with the fastest all-conditions time in Australian history at 9.74 (+5.6).
Kennedy’s consistency and reliable start will be a major asset to his campaign which will see him line up alongside Ackeem Blake (JAM), Ferdinand Omanyala (KEN) and Kayinsola Ajayi (NGR), while Lewis arrives fresh off an Australian record of 11.04 (+1.8) which she will need to replicate to match it with the headliners of Adaejah Hodge (IVB), Amy Hunt (ENG) and Zoe Hobbs (NZL).
“I doubt Glasgow will have great conditions for fast times, so for sure it will be about who can compete the best. It’s absolutely about racing and who wants it the most” Lewis said.
Adding to the sprinting action will be Aidan Murphy (SA, Nik Hagicostas) in the 200m, who follows in the footsteps of his mum Tania van Heer, who won 100m bronze and two relay gold in 1998. Emerging talent Monique Hanlon (QLD, Luke Donatini) will be a name to watch after cracking into the top 10 Australians of all-time.
Entering as the dual Australian record holder, Ky Robinson (QLD, Dathan Ritzenhein) is ready to match it with the Commonwealth’s best after a fourth-place finish at last year’s World Championships. His personal bests of 12:50.82 and 26:57.07 rank him first over 5000m and fourth over 10,000m.
Australia’s race walkers will be led by defending champion Jemima Montag (VIC, Brent Vallance) and rising star Isaac Beacroft (NSW, David Beacroft) when they take on 25 laps of the track for the 10,000m race walk, not deterred by low entry numbers as they chase their crowning moments at Scotstoun Stadium.
Both Montag and Beacroft sit in the top 20 performers of all time in the discipline, as Australia looks to clean up the medals with world-class trios featuring Rebecca Henderson (VIC, Simon Baker), Elizabeth McMillen (SA, Jared Tallent), Declan Tingay (WA, Brent Vallance) and Timothy Fraser (ACT, Jared Tallent).
A star-studded lineup of Para-athletes are led by Rhiannon Clarke (WA, Danny Kevan, T38) in the sprints and wheelchair racer Eliza Ault-Connell (ACT, Fred Periac, T54) over the 400m and 1500m. Ault-Connell makes her fourth Commonwealth Games appearance in Glasgow and she has won a medal at every previous Games she has raced. New names poised to make their mark include Ullrich Muller (QLD, Stacey Taurima, T38) and Nathan Jason (QLD, Vincent Jason, T12).
Muller is edging closer to the sub-11 second barrier over 100m, while Jason enjoyed a dream run at last year’s World Para Athletics Championships. The duo will be be joined by 15-year-old sprinter Lexie Brown (NSW, Zenon KowalcykT47), who is one of the exciting emerging faces of Australia’s Para-athletics scene – guided by Birmingham silver medallist Jaydon Page (ACT, Matt Beckenham, T47).
“I’m full ecstatic! Being this young and starting and already starting international competition is amazing,” Brown, who is the youngest athlete to represent Australia in at the Games, said.
“There will definitely be some pressure because it’s pretty hard to get into the Commonwealth Games. I’m still very immature, as I should be as a teenager, but I like the cold and I’m very excited.”
Adding to the Para-athletics program will be experienced wheelchair racers Samuel Carter (ACT, Fred Periac, T54) and Samuel Rizzo (VIC, Fred Periac, T54). They loom as two of the main prospects in the Men’s 1500m T54 – Carter the bronze medallist from Birmingham.
Australia will field a full program of relays across the Women’s 4x100m, Men’s 4x100m and Mixed 4x400m, having enjoyed a historic campaign at the 2026 World Athletics Relays in Botswana earlier in the year. Australia won bronze in the Women’s 4x100m in Birmingham and are chasing more medals in Glasgow.
In the hurdles, Michelle Jenneke (QLD, Bronwyn Thompson) lines up for her fourth Commonwealth Games and completes the circle from Glasgow 2014 to Glasgow 2026, while Sarah Carli (NSW, Abbie Taddeo) will take on the 400m hurdles.
Rounding out the middle-distance headliners will be 800m national record holders Peter Bol (WA, Justin Rinaldi) and Sarah Billings (VIC, Nic Bideau), while Linden Hall (VIC, Ned Brophy-Williams) and Rose Davies (NSW, Scott Westcott) are among the other names gunning for the Commonwealth Games podium.
The Athletics and Para Athletics program will commence on July 27 at Scotstoun Stadium and run through to August 1. Field events preview to follow, while daily previews will be available via Australian Athletics.
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Commonwealth Games Australia
Posted 26/7/2026
