2026 Commonwealth Games
- July 24 – 29, 2026 (pool swimming)
- Glasgow, Scotland
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- Prelims: Day 1
We head into the first finals session of the 2026 Commonwealth Games tonight, with nine medal finals on offer. Australia are seeking to defend a pair of relay titles they won four years ago, while all three non-para individual events will see a different champion to the one we had four years ago.
Erika Fairweather and Lani Pallister lead the women’s 400 free, but were less than a second ahead of Pallister’s teammate Jenna Forrester. There will be a distinct antipodean flavor to the final, with three swimmers from Australia – Pallister, Forrester, and Amelia Weber – and three swimmers from New Zealand – Fairweather, Caitlin Deans, and Eve Thomas. Canada’s Ella Jansen and Singaporean record holder Ching Hwee Gan round out the swimmers tonight.
The men’s 200 IM field this morning seemed to have picked up the script for the bowls going on across town, with all three circle seeded heats seeming to try to get as close to 1:58.75 as possible. Tom Dean took the win in heat 2 in that time, Max Litchfield matched it for silver in the next heat with William Petric just ahead in 1:58.70, and Duncan Scott was just 0.06 seconds slower to win the final heat in 1:58.81.
We will see all three returning medalists feature, as Lewis Clareburt posted a 1:58.79 behind Dean in heat 2. All eight finalists were separated by a mere 0.39 seconds this morning, with five swimmers between 1:58.70 and 1:58.81. Duncan Scott set a new Games record of 1:56.88 to win gold four years ago, just ahead of Dean and Clareburt.
Dean had his best single session since the Paris Olympics this morning, looking as close to his best as he has at any point in the last two years. He also had the only sub-48 second split in the men’s 4×100 free relay this morning at 47.99.
A different man had the fastest split on all four strokes this morning, setting this up to be a fantastic to-and-fro battle. Evan Jones was the fastest on fly (25.01), Scott on backstroke (29.31), Dean on breaststroke (33.83) and Lorne Wigginton on freestyle (27.61).
Pieter Coetze will have his new Games record in his sights in the 50 back semi-final, having led prelims as one of only three men under 25 seconds. He clocked 24.45 to come within three tenths of his best, and led teammate Ruard van Renen by 0.33 seconds.
That was a lifetime best for the University of Georgia swimmer, who is having his best-ever season in long course. He clocked a time of 24.78, slicing 0.14 seconds off his best from the South African Championships earlier this year.
Ollie Morgan was the other man under 25 seconds with a 24.91, half a second off the 24.36 he posted earlier this year. His teammates Cam Brooker (25.07) and Jack Skerry (25.08) will also be in action, but there are six swimmers between 25.07 and 25.18 this morning – at a minimum, one of them will miss out on tomorrow’s final.
The women’s 200 back had razor-thin margins to make the final this morning. There were four swimmers between 2:12.23 and 2:12.37, with Hannah Pearse missing out by a single hundredth of a second.
The top four swimmers are separated by just half a second, but the favorite may be the #5 seed Iona Anderson. She rocketed out to a 1:01.99 split at the halfway point before shutting it down in the second half of the race to touch in 2:11.08.
Hannah Fredericks took the top seed in 2:09.81, and was joined under 2:10 by home swimmer Holly McGill (2:09.98). Returning bronze medalist Katie Shanahan will swim next to her Scottish teammate McGill after qualifying 4th in 2:10.31.
Northern Ireland put two women into the final, with Lottie Cullen matching her PB with a 2:12.23 and Grace Davison setting a new best of 2:12.24 just behind her. Ellen Walshe‘s newly-minted Irish record of 2:09.88 could be in danger.
The big guns in the women’s 50 fly fired some warning shots this morning, with Alexandria Perkins swimming a smooth 25.55 and Erin Gallagher looking quick as she won the penultimate heat in 25.70. Most other swimmers kept their powder dry however.
Hazel Ouewehand was nearly a second off her season best of 25.55 with a 26.40 for 5th overall, and her New Zealand teammate Zoe Peterson was a second off her lifetime best as she placed 7th in 26.60. Eva Okaro was also a few tenths off her season best in 8th with a 26.67.
The top three seeds in the men’s 100 breast defended their positions and will be the top three seeds tonight. Adam Ramsay-Peaty (59.46), Sam Williamson (59.56), and Filip Nowacki (59.93) were the only men to break 1:00 this morning, although Michael Houlie will be one to keep an eye on.
He is the #4 seed in 1:00.14, but set a new PB in the 50 at the split, clocking 26.56 this morning. He could have a big swim in store, while Zac Stubblety-Cook had the fastest back half in the field with a 31.38 this morning as he placed 5th in 1:00.21.
Jenna Jones defended her top seed in the women’s S13 100 freestyle, while home favorite Stephen Clegg is the top seed in the men’s event despite swimming up a category. South Africa’s Nathan Hendricks was only just behind him this morning, while Clegg’s brother James is the #4 seed.
Another Scottish swimmer leads the women’s SM10 200 IM in Faye Rogers, who is making her Commonwealth Games debut this year. Toni Shaw, a bronze medalist four years ago, is the #5 seed while swimming up from her SM9 classification. Fernando Lu, Col Pearse, and Alex Saffy were the only men under 1:00 in the S10 100 fly and will be seeking a podium finish.
We round off with the relays, in which Australia are the top seeds. They led the women’s 4×100 free this morning by nearly three seconds and will replace most of their team, with England looking like the favorites for silver behind them. Wales, Scotland, and South Africa are in the fight for bronze after Canada’s no-show in the heats.
Wales will not however be in the men’s final, after being disqualified in the heats this morning for an early takeover. They would have been in the mix with Canada, South Africa, and Scotland for bronze tonight.
Australia and England will be in the middle lanes after clocking near-identical times this morning and will both make wholesale changes to their teams. Scotland will bring in Evan Jones and Duncan Scott, which could give them the firepower they need for third. South Africa will add Pieter Coetze, likely for Chad le Clos, while Canada were at full strength.
