2026 Commonwealth Games: Day 1 Prelims Live Recap

2026 Commonwealth Games

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

Welcome, SwimFans, to the first day of swimming at the 2026 Commonwealth Games!!!! It’s been a long journey to this point as these Games were originally set to be held, down under, in Australia, but citing rising costs, the state of Victoria pulled out of its hosting duties. Thankfully, Scotland’s most populous city was able to step in and take over hosting duties. This edition of the Games, the 23rd, is different from past editions as, in addition to being pared down to combat rising costs, they are the first to be held during the reign of King Charles III, as his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, had been monarch of the Commonwealth realm since 1952. Swimming, one of the 10 sports being contested, has not been scaled down and is set to start with some fireworks as some of the most anticipated events kick things off.

If anyone was curious, I lived south of Glasgow in the East Ayrshire village of Stair when I was six, attending Coylton Primary School for P2 and P3. I currently reside outside of Boston, which recently hosted the Tartan Army for several days, as the Scottish National football team competed. I can assure you, however, any bias towards Scotland and its athletes should be viewed entirely as incidental. Now with that out of the way, let’s Boogie.

The women’s 400 free and men’s 200 IM start the action off with a bang as some of the biggest names in the swimming world look to start their meet off on the right foot. The 400 free looks to be a grudge match between the antipodean nations of Australia and New Zealand. Top seed Lani Pallister of Australia is the top seed with an entry time of 3:58.87 and will have her training partner and compatriot Jenna Forrester with her in the last heat as they square off against New Zealand’s Eve Thomas. One heat prior, 2024 World Champion Erika Fairweather of New Zealand will hope that she and her fellow Kiwi Caitlin Deans can fend off the Aussie Amelia Weber.

With just three heats, the men’s 200 IM jumps into the action quickly with the 3rd seed Lewis Clareburt looking to add to the hopefully strong start his fellow Kiwis established in the heat prior. The young and talented Canadian Lorne Wigginton will flank Clareburt on one side, with England’s Tom Dean on the other. Dean, one of England’s most decorated Commonwealth medalists, having won seven medals four years ago, is coming off a shoulder injury, so all eyes will be looking to see what form he is in. However, his heat and the second heat will certainly lack the enthusiasm of the final heat, as all three of Scotland’s entries occupy the middle lanes. Surrounded by Evan Jones and Matthew Ward, Duncan Scott, an eight-time Olympic medalist and 13-time Commonwealth medalist, will look to kick off his title defense in front of his home nation. Scott is far from the only Scot in action today; Katie Shanahan and Holly McGill are well placed in the 200 back. They’ll have to contend with the Australian trio of Hannah Fredericks, Jenna Forrester and top-seeded Iona Anderson if they wish to earn a podium spot tonight.

Events 200 meters and longer move directly to finals, but those shorter than 200 meters will see 16 swimmers advance from the morning’s prelims into the semifinals. While the depth of the field may not require swimmers to go full speed to make the top 16, it’ll give us, as viewers, a good gauge of their form. The men’s 50 back is one such race, as we get our first good look at Pieter Coetze after he lit up the competition at Worlds last summer. In Singapore, the South African took gold in the 100 back, and claimed runner-up honors in both the 50 and 200. This morning, he’ll look to better the times put up by his main rivals Isaac Cooper and Oliver Morgan from the preceding heats.

The 100 breaststroke, too, will be an interesting watch as world record holder Adam Ramsay-Peaty takes to the water. The recently married star has been embroiled in controversy lately and will be looking for a strong performance to refocus his attention on swimming. Ramsay-Peaty has an interesting relationship with the Games, winning the 50 breaststroke in Birmingham to complete his collection of medals in the event. However, he also missed the podium in this event, stating after that he wasn’t bothered by it. The Englishman is the top seed, but his margin over rivals Sam Williamson, Filip Nowacki and Oliver Dawson is not large, so expect there to be some fast swimming this morning.

Scattered throughout the morning are the para events. The S13 100 freestyle kicks things off for the para athletes with Jenna Jones of Australia the top seed in the women’s event. There are only eight entrants, but less than a second separates the top six, and just .12 separates first from fourth, so expect the finish this morning to be close. The men’s race, too, has just one heat, but the 2nd seed Stephen Clegg will certainly have most of the support of the crowd as the Scot and six-time Paralympic medalist chases down the top-seeded South African Nathan Hendrick.

The session concludes with the prelims of the women’s and men’s 4×100 free relays. There are only 10 women’s entries and 15 men’s entries, so top seeds Australia won’t have to use all their strengths this morning, but look for the teams seeded 7th-10th to be fighting for a spot in the final tonight.

Women’s 400 Free – Prelims

• World Record: 3:54.18 – Summer McIntosh (CAN), 2025
• Commonwealth Record: 3:54.18 – Summer McIntosh (CAN), 2025
• Commonwealth Games Record: 3:58.06 – Ariarne Titmus (AUS), 2022
• 2022 Champion – Ariarne Titmus (AUS) – 3:58.06

Top 8:

1. Erika Fairweather (New Zealand) – 4:06.42
2. Lani Pallister (Australia) – 4:06.88
3. Jenna Forrester (Australia) – 4:07.34
4. Amelia Weber (Australia) – 4:08.12
5. Caitlin Deans (New Zealand) – 4:10.16
6. Ella Jansen (Canada) – 4:10.55
7. Eve Thomas (New Zealand) – 4:11.05
8. Gan Ching Hwee (Singapore) – 4:11.10

Through the first two heats, the time of 4:16.74 to beat belonged to Evi Mackie, who ignited the crowd as the Scot surged past Johanna Evans in the closing length of the 400 to overtake the Bahamian record holder. Her time didn’t last too long atop the leaderboard as six swimmers in the 3rd heat, the first of the circle seeded heats, surpassed that mark.

Leading the charge in heat 3 was the 2024 World Champion Erika Fairweather. One of the few swimmers to ever have broken the 4:00 barrier in the event, the New Zealander had firm control of the field, leading the race from start to finish. She opened in 2:01.22, leading Amelia Weber by just .26 and Caitlin Deans‘ 2:02.65, but Fairweather’s consistency was enough to keep them at bay as Weber and Deans started to fade away. The Kiwi cruised come in a 30.73 to touch the wall in 4:06.42, with Weber back at 4:08.12 and Deans two seconds behind her at 4:10.16.

The last heat saw the top seed Lani Pallister swim a near identical time to her biggest rival, Fairweather, as she won the heat in a time of 4:06.88. Pallister opened in 2:01.31, but then seemed to have some fun as she pounded the 3rd 100 splitting 30.08 and 30.41 before completely shutting things down going 33.06 and 32.02 on the last 100. Her slowdown nearly had her rundown by her training partner and compatriot Jenna Forrester. Out in 2:02.90, Forrester used a 31.44/30.72 last 100 to bring what was a four second gap at the 300 to just under one as she touched 2nd in 4:07.34. In a very close race for 3rd, Eve Thomas out touched Singapore Gan Ching Hwee 4:11.05 to 4:11.10.

MEN’S 200 IM – Prelims

• World Record: 1:52.69 – Leon Marchand (FRA), 2025
• Commonwealth Record: 1:55.28 – Duncan Scott (GBR), 2021
• Commonwealth Games Record: 1:56.88 – Duncan Scott (SCO), 2022
• 2022 Champion: Duncan Scott (SCO) – 1:56.88

Top 8:

1. William Petric (Australia) – 1:58.70
2. Thomas Dean (England) – 1:58.75
3. Max Litchfield (England) – 1:58.75
4. Lewis Clareburt (New Zealand) – 1:58.79
5. Duncan Scott (Scotland) – 1:58.81
6. Brendon Smith (Australia) – 1:59.02
7. Evan Jones (Scotland) – 1:59.04
8. Lorne Wigginton (Canada) – 1:59.09

Scotland’s three entrants did their best to get the crowd behind them in the last heat of the men’s 200 IM, but the speed of the early heats made it difficult for all three to advance. The first heat saw Tom Dean and Lewis Clareburt get to the first wall in a dead tie of 25.45, with Clareburt taking the lead after the backstroke 55.85 to 56.22. Dean, representing England, made up that gap in the breaststroke using a strong 33.83 split to pull himself into the lead and held off the Kiwi, 1:58.75 to 1:58.79. Joining the pair with a sub two-minute performance was Lorne Wigginton of Canada, who just .34  back of Dean at 1:59.09.

The 2nd heat was a faster affair with the 2nd seed William Petric opening in 25.42. The Australian Olympian built upon his early lead and hit the back to breaststroke turn at 55.47. He had a full half a second lead over Max Litchfield after the breaststroke, but the English swimmer powered home in 28.42 to come within .05 of Petric, falling just short of winning the heat, 1:58.75 to 1:58.70. Petric’s fellow Aussie, Brendon Smith, is more known for his 400 IM prowess, like Litchfield, but he used a blistering 28.07 to close the gap to Petric and Litchfield to touch just this side of 1:59, at 1:59.02.

With six swimmers under 1:59.09, the Scottish trio of Duncan Scott, Evan Jones and Matthew Ward knew their target time. Surprisingly, Scott, the defending champion and Commonwealth record holder was not out fastest, hitting the 50 wall at 25.26, trailing the speedy Jones (25.01) and the South African Kris Mihaylov (25.08). However, Scott, used his experience to power past the pair and moved into the lead at the 100 (54.57) and never looked back cruising home in 35.33 and 28.91 to take the win in 1:58.81. Jones, who was leading at the 50, remained in 2nd throughout the race and took 2nd in 1:59.04. The last Scotsman in the heat, Ward, was 5th after the fly (25.86), but moved up to 3rd after th back and came home just behind Scott and Jones, although his time of 1:59.59 slots him into 9th place on the outside of the final.

WOMEN’S S13 100 Free – Prelims

Top 8:

1. Jenna Jones S12 (Australia) – 1:04.67
2. Ela Letton-Jones S12 (Wales) – 1:04.73
3. Danika Vyncke S13 (South Africa) – 1:05.13
4. Kirralee Hayes S13 (Australia) – 1:05.24
5. Ursula Carroll S13 (England) – 1:05.25
6. Mia Hogan S13 (Australia) – 1:05.29
7. Astrid Carroll S12 (Scotland) – 1:05.84
8. Alani Ferreira S12 (South Africa) – 1:06.95

MEN’S S13 100 Free – Prelims

Top 8:

WOMEN’S 200 BACKSTROKE – Prelims

• World Record: 2:03.14 – Kaylee McKeown (AUS), 2023
• Commonwealth Record: 2:03.14 – Kaylee McKeown (AUS), 2023
• Commonwealth Games Record: 2:05.60 – Kaylee McKeown (AUS), 2022
• 2022 Champion: Kaylee McKeown (AUS) – 2:05.60

Top 8:

MEN’S 50 BACKSTROKE – Prelims

• World Record: 23.55 – Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS), 2023
• Commonwealth Record: 24.04 – Liam Tancock (GBR), 2009
• Commonwealth Games Record: 24.62 – Liam Tancock (ENG), 2010
• 2022 Champion: Andrew Jeffcoat (NZL) – 24.65

Top 16:

WOMEN’S 50 BUTTERFLY – Prelims

• World Record: 24.43 – Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), 2014
• Commonwealth Record: 25.20 – Francesca Halsall (GBR), 2014
• Commonwealth Games Record: 25.20 – Francesca Halsall (ENG), 2014
• 2022 Champion: Emma McKeon (AUS) – 25.90

Top 16:

MEN’S 100 BREASTSTROKE – Prelims

• World Record: 56.88 – Adam Peaty (GBR), 2019
• Commonwealth Record: 56.88 – Adam Peaty (GBR), 2019
• Commonwealth Games Record: 58.59 – Adam Peaty (ENG), 2018
• 2022 Champion: James Wilby (ENG) – 59.25

Top 16:

WOMEN’S SM10 200 IM- Prelims

• Commonwealth Games Record – 2:27.72, Sophie Pascoe (NZL), 2018
• 2022 Champion – Jasmine Greenwood (AUS), 2:33.29

Top 8:

MEN’S S10 100 BUTTERFLY – Prelims

• Commonwealth Games Record – 56.91, Col Pearse (AUS), 2022
• 2022 Champion – Col Pearse (AUS), 56.91

Top 8:

WOMEN’S 4×00 FREESTYLE RELAY – Prelims

• World Record: 3:27.96 – Australia (O’Callaghan, Jack, Harris, McKeon), 2023
• Commonwealth Record: 3:27.96 – Australia (O’Callaghan, Jack, Harris, McKeon), 2023
• Commonwealth Games Record: 3:30.05 – Australia (Jack, B. Campbell, McKeon, C. Campbell), 2018
• 2022 Champion: Australia (Wilson, Jack, O’Callaghan, McKeon) –  3:30.64

Top 8:

MEN’S 4×00 FREESTYLE RELAY – Prelims

• World Record: 3:08.24 – USA (Phelps, Weber-Gale, Jones, Lezak), 2008
• Commonwealth Record: 3:08.97 – Australia (Southam, Taylor, Giuliani, Chalmers), 2025
• Commonwealth Games Record: 3:11.12 – Australia (Southam, Incerti, Yang, Chalmers) , 2022
• 2022 Champion: Australia (Southam, Incerti, Yang, Chalmers) – 3:11.12

Top 8: