2026 Commonwealth Games Previews: Australia Look Likely To Defend Men’s Free Relays

2026 Commonwealth Games

• July 24 – 29, 2026 (pool swimming)
• Glasgow, Scotland
• Tollcross International Swimming Centre
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central

BY THE NUMBERS – MEN’S 4×100 FREESTYLE RELAY

• World Record: 3:08.24 – USA (2008)
• Commonwealth Record: 3:08.97 – Australia (2025)
• Commonwealth Games Record: 3:11.12 – Australia (2022)
• 2022 Commonwealth Champion – Australia, 3:11.12

Australia are the defending champions in the men’s 4×100 free relay, clocking 3:11.12 for a new Games record, but England were just over half a second back thanks to a monster 46.70 anchor from Tom Dean. The Aussies look like having a larger winning margin this year, but England could push them close if Dean makes a surprise return to form.

Canada, the defending bronze medalists, have sent a team containing just six men’s swimmers, opening up the podium to one of Scotland and Wales.

The Favorites

There is a clear choice in the men’s 4×100 free relay, with Australia currently holding the world title and returning three of the four swimmers who were on that medal-winning team.

Kyle Chalmers, Kai Taylor, and Flynn Southam will be in Glasgow, and while Max Giuliani will not be, his was the weakest leg last summer at 47.63. Jamie Jack, Matt Temple, Harrison Turner, and Ed Sommerville provide ample replacements though, and while they may break 3:09 again they should have too much for anyone else in this field.

Chalmers has been 47.59 this season, with Southam (47.94) and Kai Taylor (47.98) also breaking 48 seconds. All three showed they could handle the pressure at worlds last year, and should be the bedrock of a winning team here. Harrison Turner (48.22) had an outstanding Australian Trials but has not been part of this relay before, while Matt Temple (48.38 this season) has been an important contributor to medal-winning relays in this event.

Australia are probably the only nation that could field a full set of 47-point-or-better splits, and Chalmers has consistently been under 47 seconds on the anchor leg. Taylor (47.04), Southam (47.69 FS) and Jamie Jack (47.68) have all broken 48 seconds either from a flat start or on a relay in the last 12 months.

Chalmers is the gamechanger for the Green and Gold. There will be no other swimmer in attendance, potentially bar Josh Liendo on a weak Canada team, who can throw down the sub-47 splits he seems to do at will. For five years in a row from 2021 to 2025 he broke 47 seconds on the anchor leg at either Worlds or the Olympics.

Australia have won this relay at the last four Commonwealth Games, and have been a consistent presence on the podium at recent World Championships. With Chalmers focusing on Commonwealths this summer, they should be the favorites again here.

England To Repeat For Silver

England are the strongest of the four “home nations”, and also have the most depth. Jacob Mills, Jacob Whittle, Tom Dean, and Gabe Shepherd is probably the expected lineup, but James Guy swam a PB of 48.37 at the Aquatics GB Championships, and both Ollie Morgan (48.47) and Cam Brooker (48.40) have thrown down some quick relay splits this year. While rotation isn’t much of an issue for the top nations, that depth should cover anyone being out of form.

Mills is the star at just 18 years old, posting a PB of 47.72 in April, and had multiple 47-point splits last summer at the World Junior Championships. He is probably the leadoff leg for this relay, up against Flynn Southam and potentially Duncan Scott, but has the talent to touch the wall first out of that trio.

Whittle split 48.11 and 47.67 last summer, both solid splits, but hasn’t really kicked on since clocking 48.11 in the semi-finals at the Tokyo Olympics. He was just 48.52 at the Aquatics GB Championships, and his spot is probably at risk. Gabe Shepherd has proved himself a phenomenal relay swimmer, splitting 48.24 at European Juniors at just 16 years old in 2024, and has dropped from 48.95 to 48.43 this season.

Dean is somewhat of an unknown quantity, but has looked in decent shape over the last couple of months. Guy is probably the least likely to swim this relay, with the individual 200 free and 400 free, but it wouldn’t be a shock to see either one of the backstrokers Morgan or Brooker in the heats (if there are any).

The Battle For Bronze

Wales will have British record holder Matt Richards, but are relatively thin behind him. Dan Jones will return owning a PB of 48.93 from 2024, but their other options are 18-year-old Harry Milne, distance swimmers Tyler Melbourne-Smith and Kieran Bird, and 100 fly national record holder Lewis Fraser.

None of those swimmers are under 49.5, although Melbourne-Smith’s move down to the 200 indicates he has time to drop here. Milne is a talented youngster and was a feature of some strong junior international relays at European Juniors this summer, including a 48.60 split on the 4×100 free relay, but this is probably one cycle too early to see him at his best. Bird has broken 50 seconds before, and nearly did so again at the Aquatics GB Championships this year, although Jones has a best of 49.46 is likely to be a solid 49-flat split. Wales are probably behind Scotland here in the battle for bronze, but only just.

Scotland has Duncan Scott, which often seems like it should be worth a Commonwealth medal in itself, but with Evan Jones, Matt Ward, Jensen Norris, and Dean Fearn there is a reasonably strong and young core behind him. Jones broke 49 seconds for the first time with a 48.93 at the Aquatics GB Championships in April, and split 48.99 off a 51.54 PB at the last Commonwealth Games. Norris and Fearn split 49.13 and 49.27 respectively at the European Junior Championships earlier this month, and Matt Ward has a best of 49.72.

They probably have a slightly higher floor than Wales, and a fairly secure quartet. Norris and Fearn will need to back up their taper from European Juniors though, and they will need Scott to be as close as possible to Matt Richards to keep them in touch early on.

The Rest

South Africa have Pieter Coetze, Guy Brooks, Ruard van Renen and Kris Mihaylov, but probably need one of the latter three to become a 48-low swimmer to be in the podium hunt. Coetze owns a best of 47.88 from the World University Games last summer, where Brooks also split 47.95, but South Africa has no other swimmers under 49 seconds from a flat-start. Brooks and Mihaylov did set their lifetime bests at the South African Championships this year, but this may not yet be a medalling quartet.

Singapore, with Indiana’s Mikkel Lee and Stanford’s Jonathan Tan, also have some top end talent and are the reigning SEA Games champions, but have brought a team of just six swimmers in total and are not entered.

Fiji have ASU’s Tolu Young leading the way, who recently set a national record of 49.38 in the 100 free, and reset their national record at the Oceania Championships in May as they clocked 3:50.55. Young split just 50.84 on that relay, so watch for them to take that record under 3:30.

Canada will have Josh Liendo and Antoine Sauve, but no one else on their men’s team of just six swimmers is under 50 seconds. They probably skip this relay, and won’t trouble the podium if they do swim it.

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BY THE NUMBERS – MEN’S 4×200 FREESTYLE RELAY

• World Record: 6:58.55 – USA (2009)
• Commonwealth Record: 6:58.58 – Great Britain (2021)
• Commonwealth Games Record: 7:04.96 – Australia (2022)
• 2022 Commonwealth Champion – Australia, 7:04.96

The men’s 4×200 free is somewhat of an anomaly here. Great Britain has the strongest quartet in world swimming currently, but none of its constituent nations will win the event here. Taking a look at their quartet – James Guy, Duncan Scott, Matt Richards, Jack McMillan – it’s clear to see why. With all four swimming for a different nation, the depth is fairly evenly distributed, and Australia will make the most of that opportunity.

Aussies On The Rise

The Aussies may have been quietly confident anyway. The 2025 World Championships bronze medalists have won a world or Olympic medal every year since 2017, and had perhaps their strongest ever 200 free performance at Trials.

Sam Short set a new PB of 1:45.16, with Kai Taylor close behind in 1:45.30. A further three swimmers (Harrison Turner, Ed Sommerville, and Charlie Hawke) were under 1:46, and both Tommy Neill and Elijah Winnington have thrown down big splits on this relay before.

Short’s turn of speed, dropping more than half a second since last season, gives them a true star on this relay. Australia has not had a world or Olympic medalist in the 200 free since Grant Hackett in 2005, but have multiple legitimate final contenders for the first time in a while.

There has been a lot of turnover since the 2022 edition of the Games, with none of the four finals swimmers returning as part of this relay. Flynn Southam, who led off in 1:45.85 last summer, is on the team individually in the 100 free but could be part of this relay based on training camp performances.

The team should be no weaker for that turnover though. Kai Taylor has a pair of 1:44-point splits to his name now, splitting 1:44.56 at the 2023 World Championships and 1:44.64 at the 2025 World Championships. While their other 1:44-point split last summer, Max Giuliani, will not be in Glasgow, Turner and Sommerville are able replacements.

Sommerville clocked 1:44.93 at the 2025 Australian Trials, but added significantly in the individual event at worlds and was left off the relay. He was a slightly slower 1:45.72 at Trials this year, 0.01 behind 200 fly star and 2025 200 fly world bronze medalist Harrison Turner, who lowered his lifetime best by over a second with a 1:45.71.

The likely quartet is Short, Taylor, Turner, and Sommerville. All of them can be 1:45-point or better, and they can replace any of them without losing as much as the other nations they will be in competition with. This is a relay which should be confident of hitting 7:02 or better, which will be more than enough for the gold here.

The Home Nations

England will have relay specialist James Guy, who has won four world gold medals and two Olympic gold medals in this event over the last decade. He set his lifetime best of 1:45.04 leading off the prelims relay at the 2024 Olympic Games, and has clocked 1:45.08, 1:45.28, and 1:45.38, and 1:45.50 in the 200 free since April last year.

Gabe Shepherd has burst onto the scene this year, and is the #3 English swimmer in history thanks to the 1:46.39 he swam at the Aquatics GB Championships. He proved himself a solid relay swimmer at the junior level in the summers of 2024 and 2025, and could be the second-best leg on this relay after Guy.

Tom Dean is the wildcard. He missed the Aquatics GB Championships through injury, but for the second year in a row was named to an international team as a discretionary pick. He owns the British record at 1:44.22, but has only been 1:48.48 so far this season, four tenths slower than he was in the lead up to worlds last summer. He split 1:46.35 in Singapore at the 2025 World Championships, two and a half seconds slower than his best-ever split of 1:43.84, but something similar would be enough for England in this event.

The fourth team member will be where the intrigue comes in. Jacob Whittle swam on this relay at the 2022 World Championships (1:46.80) and at 2022 Commonwealths (1:47.89), and owns a best of 1:47.85 but hasn’t broken 1:50 since 2024. Mills clocked 1:48.32 at the Aquatics GB Championships, but has only broken 1:50 three times in his career, all within a five week period earlier this year.

That makes Max Litchfield the most likely option. He placed 8th at the Aquatics GB Championships in 1:47.58, his second-fastest swim ever, and posted his third-fastest of 1:47.63 in the heats. He has not been a feature on this relay recently, but did swim it at the 2024 World Championships where he split 1:46.88 in the heats and 1:46.89 in the final.

Scotland have three quarters of what could be a very good relay, but their fourth swimmer will be a 1:49-point flat start. Duncan Scott has been one of the best swimmers in the world on this relay, with more 1:44-point-or-better splits than anyone else in the last decade, and is coming off splitting 1:43.95 at last year’s World Championships. He will be the key man for Scotland, and has been 1:45.44 so far this season.

He also split 1:44.48 on this relay four years ago, the fastest split in the field, and will be joined by Charlie Hutchison and Evan Jones. Jones was a heats swimmer at the 2025 World Championships where he split 1:47.43, but set a huge best of 1:46.50 this April and could have 1:45-point speed. Hutchison hasn’t quite matched the heights of last summer, when he won multiple European U23 medals, but owns a best of 1:46.84 despite only clocking 1:48.83 this year.

The fourth member of the relay looks to be a choice between Matt Ward (1:49.43), George Smith (1:49.02), and Luke Hornsey (1:49.79). That isn’t a disastrous leg, but is probably enough of a difference to England’s that it sinks Scottish hopes for silver.

Wales have the top British swimmer so far this year and current British champion in Matt Richards, and while he has an able lieutenant in Tyler Melbourne-Smith the other two legs are not quite on the same level as their rivals.

Kieran Bird was just 1:48.46 at the Aquatics GB Championships, although owns a best of 1:46.99, and their final swimmer will likely be Dan Jones, who clocked a new PB of 1:49.26 at those championships and split 1:48.79 four years ago.

Richards has been 1:44.77 so far this season, his fourth-fastest swim ever, and Melbourne-Smith dropped eight tenths of a second at the Aquatics GB Championships to clock 1:46.67. The national record of 7:10.64 could be in danger, but that doesn’t look like it’ll be enough for a podium this year.

Canada could put a team of Benjamin Loewen, Ben Winterborn, Antoine Sauve, and Lorne Wiggington together, but that is not likely to trouble any of the nations above. South Africa are also in the ‘could field a team but won’t be competitive’ club, although it seems unlikely that Pieter Coetze would swim which would leave them a man short.

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