By Mark Wild on SwimSwam
2026 Commonwealth Games
July 24 – 29, 2026 (pool swimming) Glasgow, Scotland Tollcross International Swimming Centre LCM (50m) Meet Central Preview IndexIn 2022, Ariarne Titmus was the cream of the crop in women’s distance freestyle events at the Commonwealth Games. She set a Games record in the 400 free, taking the title in 3:58.06, ahead of a young Summer McIntosh, the lone non-Australian to climb the podium in a freestyle event. In the 800 free, Titmus one-upped her Games record, setting a new Commonwealth and Oceanian record of 8:13.59, beating compatriot Kiah Melverton by over three seconds.
Four years later, with Titmus having since retired and Melverton not being named to the team, Australia will be looking for a new standard-bearer to carry on their legacy in the distance freestyle, they won’t have to look far however, as the 2022 bronze medalist in the 800 free, Lani Pallister, has emerged in the past four years as one the best distance swimmers of our time, ranking in the top five all time in the 400 free (5th), 800 free (3rd) and 1500 free (4th). With the Commonwealth and Pan-Pacs gold medals the only gold medals missing from her trophy cabinet, Pallister will have some motivation in Glasgow as she attempts to be the first swimmer to win the distance triple.
WOMEN’S 400 FREESTYLE – By the Numbers
World Record: 3:54.18 – Summer McIntosh (CAN), 2025 Commonwealth Record: 3:54.18 – Summer McIntosh (CAN), 2025 Games Record: 3:58.06 – Ariarne Titmus (AUS), 2022 2022 Champion: Ariarne Titmus (AUS) – 3:58.06With the entirety of the podium from the Birmingham Games missing, we are bound to have some new faces make an appearance in the final, but it will be hard to displace those who finished 4th and 5th last go-around from moving up. In 2022, Lani Pallister finished 5th in the final, recording a time of 4:04.43. It wasn’t her fastest swim of the season as she finished 4th at Worlds earlier in the summer with a time of 4:02.16, a time that was just .08 off the bronze medal-winning time of Leah Smith. Since then, however, the Australian has been on a tear in the event, inching ever closer to the sub-4:00 minute club, dropping a 3:59.72 last summer at Australian Trials, before once again barely missing out on a World Championship medal, finishing 4th in Singapore with a time of 3:58.87.
This season, Pallister, who trains out of the famed St. Peters Western team under Dean Boxall, has twice already been under the 4:00 minute barrier, going 3:59.36 at April’s Australian Open and then again last month at Australian Trials, winning the event in 3:59.72 with the former ranking her 3rd in the world this season, sitting behind only the world record holder – Summer McIntosh and the USA’s Katie Ledecky. With McIntosh deferring to clash with Pallister until Pan-Pacts, the 5th fastest woman ever in the event looks to be in good standing to earn the gold, but she has not been alone in her rise up the rankings in the intervening four years.
Joining her in vaulting up the world’s best list is fellow Antipodean, Erika Fairweather. A Tokyo Olympic finalist in the event, Fairweather placed 6th at the 2022 Worlds in 4:04.73 before getting the better of Pallister at the Commonwealth Games, placing 4th in 4:03.84. While 2022 was a down year, with Fairweather unable to equal her national record of 4:02.28 from Tokyo, the Kiwi shocked many at the 2023 Worlds in Fukuoka, joining the sub-4:00 club with her bronze medal-winning time of 3:59.59. A year later, she followed that up with a World title, claiming the event in a new best of 3:59.44 in Doha. Poised to contend with the best in Singapore, Fairweather was DQed in the event and did not get to race in the finals.
This season, Fairweather has been the modicum of consistency, peppering the 4:01/4:02 range. She took 2nd place to Pallister at the Australian Open, claiming silver in 4:02.09. A month later, Fairweather earned a victory at the New Zealand Swimming Championships, posting a season-best of 4:01.42. A few weeks later, she continued her strong run of form, dominating the event at the Mare Nostrum Tour, climbing to the top of the podium at all three stops, with her best time coming from the last stop, where her 4:01.75 was a full second ahead of Agostina Hein‘s new national record of 4:02.99.
While there are no psych sheets to confirm this statement, Pallister and Fairweather are far and away the favorites. Of the likely entrants, they are the only two with sub-4:00-minute PBs and the lone swimmers with times that rank among the World’s top 25 all-time. Pallister has the better personal best and the faster in-season time, but Fairweather has the better trophy case in the event, as Pallister has never medaled internationally, while Fairweather has both a gold and a bronze world medal to her name.
Situated on the first day, Pallister, who is more distance-oriented than Fairweather, will not have to worry about fatigue from what is expected to be a tough line-up (again, no psych sheets are out), but the Aussie is likely expected to swim the 200-1500 free as well as the 800 free relay, and with that in mind, we are giving her the edge over Fairweather, who will be a very close second.
Jenna Forrester (Photo Credit: Delly Carr/Swimming Australia)
The battle for bronze is expected to be a bit more open, with more swimmers contending for the last podium spot, but at the forefront among them is Pallister’s compatriot Jenna Forrester. A training partner of Pallister’s at St. Peter’s Western, Forrester has taken an interesting path back to this event. The Aussie started competing in the event at the 2018 Junior Pan-Pacs and 2019 Junior Worlds, but after COVID, she turned her attention to the 400 IM, finishing 7th at the 2022 Worlds and 6th at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. 2023 was a banner year for her, as she earned bronze at Worlds in the 400 IM and one-uped that by tying for the silver last year. However, perhaps with the retirement of Titmus and with Pallister as a training partner, Forrester dropped a strong 4:04.30 new PB in the event at Australian Trials to earn 2nd place.
Ranked 12th in the world this season and 3rd amongst likely entrants, Forrester looks to be in a prime position to earn her first Commonwealth Games medal. However, limited to just three entrants per nation, Forrester may not compete in the event, instead focusing on the IMs, allowing her younger compatriots, eager to cut their teeth in the event as they make their debut for Australia, to have a shot at making the final and podium. Both 20-year-olds, Amelia Weber and Molly Walker, earned a berth on the roster. The pair finished 3rd and 4th, respectively, at the Australian Trials, going 4:05.79 and 4:06.10. Both times, like Forrester’s, were personal bests, and rank the pair 17th and 18th in the world this season, but more importantly, 4th and 5th amongst likely entrants. Walker, the slowest of the three, may be the least likely to swim this event, as she placed 2nd in the 800 free and 3rd in the 1500 free, and is the least likely medal candidate of the quartet.
The 400 free at the Commonwealth Games seems to be owned by Australia and New Zealand, and it’s reinforced by Eve Thomas, who sits 24th in the world this year thanks to her 4:06.85 from the New Zealand Swimming Championships. Thomas is no stranger to the Commonwealth Games, as she finished 6th in the 400 back in 2022, adding to her 4th-place finish in the 800 free. Thomas had to work for that 4:06.85, using a strong back 200 to catch her compatriot Caitlin Deans in the final at her nation’s championships, with Deans taking 3rd in 4:07.78. The time for Deans, who competed in the 800 and 1500 at the Singapore Worlds, is a new personal best and easily puts her into contention for making the final.
Four places ahead of her in the World rankings is Freya Colbert, who was 4:06.16 in March of this year. Colbert, a 2024 World Champion in the 400 IM, won the event at the Aquatics GB Championships and was just a little off her season best as she stopped the clock at 4:06.91. Colbert is the lone Brit to be under 4:08 this season, with Amalie Smith and her 4:08.49 the only other sub-4:10 time this season. Colbert, who broke the British record in the 200 free, and Smith both represent England and likely serve as one of the best shots of breaking up the Aussie/New Zealand dominance in the event.
The other big chance to break into that dominance is Canada’s Ella Jansen. With McIntosh not making the trip across the Atlantic, Jansen is her nation’s big hope at medaling in the freestyle events. The Etobicoke Swim Club member won the event at Canadian Trials, going 4:08.05, but was already pre-selected for the Commonwealth Games, so it’s uncertain where she sits training-wise. Jansen owns a personal best of 4:07.18, but that dates back to 2023, and she is poised to make huge drops in the event, having cut 2 seconds off her 500-yard freestyle this season and taking 4th at the Division I NCAAs this past March.
South Africa’s Dune Coetzee returns to the event as well, having placed 8th in the final back in 2022. The former Georgia Bulldog won the event at the South African Trials back in April, recording a mark of 4:11.35, but that time doesn’t appear to be fast enough to break into the top eight. She sits .05 ahead of her compatriot Aimee Canny, who did not swim the event at trials, but just dropped a personal best of 4:11.40 at the Pro Swim Series in Indianapolis, and was one of the fastest 500 freestylers this past NCAA season. However, Canny, like many of her UVA teammates, is a highly versatile swimmer and is likely focusing on the 200 free, 200 IM, and the breaststrokes.
SwimSwam’s Picks
Place Name Nation Season Best Lifetime Best 1 Lani Pallister AUS 3:59.36 3:58.87 2 Erika Fairweather NZL 4:01.42 3:59.44 3 Jenna Forrester AUS 4:04.30 4:04.30 4 Ella Jansen CAN 4:08.05 4:07.18 5 Amelia Weber AUS 4:05.79 4:05.79 6 Freya Colbert ENG 4:06.16 4:06.16 7 Eve Thomas NZL 4:06.85 4:05.87 8 Caitlin Deans NZL 4:07.78 4:07.78WOMEN’S 800 FREESTYLE – By the Numbers
World Record: 8:04.12 – Katie Ledecky (USA), 2025 Commonwealth Record: 8:05.07 – Summer McIntosh (CAN), 2025 Games Record: 8:13.59 – Ariarne Titmus (AUS), 2022 2022 Champion: Ariarne Titmus (AUS) – 8:13.59As the distance increases in the women’s freestyle events, the field inversely shrinks, as we lose the likes of Jenna Forrester and Freya Colbert; however, the core group of Australians and New Zealanders remains, with Lani Pallister the heavy favorite.
The third-fastest swimmer in history, Pallister had a performance of a lifetime last summer, winning the silver medal in Singapore with a gutsy last 50, outsplitting both Ledecky and McIntosh, to hit the wall in 8:05.98, setting a new Oceanian record in the process. The lone returning medalist in any of these events, Pallister currently occupies the number three spot in the world rankings, having gone 8:11.28 at the Australian Open this past April. She was a little slower at the Australian Trials, winning the event in 8:13.41, but by this point she had already punched her ticket to Glasgow and had a lead of nine seconds by the half point, so there was little incentive to push the pace.
Erika Fairweather (photo: Jack Spitser)
Like in the 400 free, Pallister’s biggest competition comes from her neighbor to the east, the New Zealander Fairweather; however, whereas Pallister is perfectly suited to the 800 free, this distance is a bit of a stretch for the Kiwi, with the 400 free being much more in her comfort zone. That said, Fairweather is still a top 25 all-time performer, ranking 23rd in the event with her PB of 8:18.00 from 2023. She was just a little off that time last season, taking 7th in the event’s final with a mark of 8:20.79. She has competed in the event several times this season, coming reasonably close to that time. She was 8:26.12 at the New Zealand Championships, a little less than three seconds ahead of her compatriot Eve Thomas, but she had been 8:21.89 earlier in the season at March’s Age Groups and Open Championships, and had also gone 8:23.19 at the 2nd stop of the Mare Nostrum tour. Currently sitting 7th in the world, Fairweather looks to be a strong fit for another silver medal at the Commonwealth Games, as Pallister is over 10 seconds faster this season.
The Australians have two other swimmers ranked inside this season’s top 20, with Molly Walker ranking 13th and Moesha Johnson clocking it at 17th, but only Walker will likely contest the event in Glasgow, as Johnson did not swim the event at the Australian Trials and is likely preparing for her open-water commitments at Pan-Pacs. Walker, however, looks to be in prime position to earn a medal, as her PB of 8:26.01, courtesy of her 2nd-place finish at Trials, would have placed 4th in 2022 and currently sits 3rd among likely entrants.
Her biggest threats to the bronze likely come from the Kiwi, Thomas, who, as mentioned above, had a strong performance at her own trials, going 8:28.99 to rank 22nd in the world this season. She owns a personal best of 8:22.27 from 2024 but hasn’t been able to replicate that time at major meets, going 8:33.25 at the Olympics and not contesting the event at the 2025 Worlds in Singapore. She missed the 800 free last summer as her compatriot Caitlin Deans earned the spot, beating her at trials and then swimming an 8:28.72 in the prelims of Worlds, just missing the finals by a little over a second. This time around, Thomas took 2nd place at Trials, but Deans’ 8:35.61 is enough to put her firmly into the conversation of making the final.
It seems like there is a back and forth between the two nations, as Pallister is ahead of Fairweather, and Walker is a little ahead of Thomas, and it’s the same for their third swimmers, as Tiana Kritzinger is just a little ahead of Deans this season, thanks to her PB and bronze medal performance of 8:32.60 at Australian Trials last month.
However, they don’t have a complete stranglehold on the final as England pegs its hopes on the young Amelie Blocksidge. The 17-year-old won the event for the 3rd time at the British Swimming Championships, recording a mark of 8:33.02, the lone swim under 8:40. Blocksidge owns a personal best of 8:30.05 from her gold-medal-winning performance at the 2024 European Junior Championship, but lacks the firepower to crack the medal contention. That said, making the final is certainly not out of the question as Blocksidge hopes to build upon her first senior meet experience. Her compatriot Lucy Fox, who finished 4th at the selection meet, was recently added to the team, but her 8:42.65 season best isn’t likely to make much inroads into the top seven. Nor is Team Wales’s Alexandra Bastone and her 8:40.79. Bastone, who swims stateside for Harvard, took 2nd place at the 2026 Selection meet and looks to be the British Isles’ best bet to place two swimmers into the final.
With Canada having pre-selected their roster, it is hard to determine how those athletes approached the Pan-Pac Selection meet held earlier this month. Julie Brousseau placed 3rd at the meet in a time of 8:46.32 in the 800, but with a personal best of 8:37.23 from last summer’s World University Games. If she can replicate those performances, then Brousseau, who swims collegiately for Florida, should easily be in contention for a lane in the final, but she may have to contend with her teammate Ella Jansen.
Again, with no psych sheets yet released, it’s hard to determine who will be competing in what events, but Jansen, who owns a PB of 8:40.14, could be poised to make a strong run in Glasgow. The Tennessee Volunteer swam the event at a meet in Knoxville, posting a near-best time of 8:40.60, winning by nearly 20 seconds. If she does swim the event, Jansen could, like Brousseau, be in a tussle with Bastone for that last spot in the final.
SwimSwam’s Picks
Place Name Nation Season Best Lifetime Best 1 Lani Pallister AUS 8:11.28 8:05.98 2 Erika Fairweather NZL 8:21.89 8:18.00 3 Eve Thomas NZL 8:28.99 8:22.27 4 Molly Walker AUS 8:26.01 8:26.01 5 Amelia Blocksidge ENG 8:33.02 8:30.05 6 Caitlin Deans NZL 8:35.61 8:28.72 7 Tiana Kritzinger AUS 8:32.60 8:32.60 8 Alexandra Bastone WAL 8:40.79 8:40.79WOMEN’S 1500 FREESTYLE – By the Numbers
World Record: 15:20.48 – Katie Ledecky (USA), 2018 Commonwealth Record: 15:39.14 – Lani Pallister (AUS), 2025 Games Record: N/A 2022 Champion: N/ASwimming has been a fixture at the Commonwealth Games ever since its first iteration, but this year will be the first time the women’s 1500 makes an appearance at the meet. It’s not that surprising that the 1500 free didn’t feature before then, as it was not an Olympic event until the 2020 Tokyo Games. As such, we have no past winners or medalists to mention, but most of the 800 field is likely to appear in the 1500.
Foremost among them is Lani Pallister. A two-time World bronze medalist in this event, having taken 3rd in Budapest back in 2022 and in Singapore last summer, the Australian is the 4th fastest performer ever in the event, having recorded a best of 15:39.14 at the Australian Trials last summer. Pallister nearly clipped that mark at this year’s trials, going 15:40.01, a time a full second faster than her bronze medal-winning time of 15:41.18 from Singapore.
The only swimmer in the expected field ranked in the top 25 all-time performers list, Pallister is the heavy favorite to win the event and should easily take the gold medal. The Oceanian record holder, Pallister, will be chasing Lotte Friis‘s 15:38.88 and perhaps Simona Quadarella‘s 15:31.79 from last summer to get one step closer to Katie Ledecky‘s control on the top 10 all-time performances.
Erika Fairweather, as previously mentioned, is better suited to the shorter freestyle events but has been branching out into longer distances. She took 2nd to Lani Pallister in the 1500 short course meters at last fall’s World Cup, swimming the now 20th fastest time ever, going 15:30.22. In long course, she hasn’t quite broken into that range, but did join the sub-16:00 minute club this past May, winning the New Zealand Swimming Championships with a new personal best of 15:58.26, a time that ranks her 6th in the world this season. The Kiwi has a long way to go to try to better the national record of Lauren Boyle, who swam a blistering 15:40.14 back at the 2015 Worlds in Kazan.
In an almost startling case of deja vu, the top two medals seem to be secure in Pallister and Fairweather, while the bronze is going to be hotly contested by the Australians and New Zealanders as Eve Thomas and Caitlin Deans find themselves sandwiched between the Australians Tiana Kritzinger and Molly Walker in the world rankings. Kritzinger took 2nd behind Pallister at the Australian Trials in a time of 16:10.59 and currently ranks 21st in the world this season. While it’s the fastest time entering the meet outside of the top two, it’s a very small lead as Eve Thomas and Caitlin Deans are right behind her.
credit: Mickaël Malaper Malaper Photography
The pair of Kiwis, 22nd and 23rd in the world this season, were separated by just .01 at the 800 turn at the NZ Trials, but Thomas held her form together a little better over the back half and took the silver medal, 16:11.20 to 16:11.42. Thomas has been under the 16:10 mark, holding a PB of 16:07.46 from 2024, while Deans entered her nation’s trials with an entry time of 16:07.68. The pair won’t be alone in contesting that bronze medal with Kritzinger, as her Australian teammate Molly Walker is not too far back with her PB performance of 16:13.59 from the Australian Trials.
The last two spots likely up for grabs will come from the British Isles, with Amelia Blocksidge at the forefront of the group. A four-time British champion in the event, having won the 1500 since 2023, where she posted a time of 16:19.67, Blocksidge could certainly make the podium in her first senior international competition. A two-time European Junior champion in the event, Blocksidge won the event at April’s Aquatics GB Championships in a time of 16:22.93, which would appear to put her behind the tightly bunched group of Australians and New Zealanders, but as she owns a personal best of 16:10.23, the young English star could easily be in contention for the bronze medal. Team England doesn’t appear to have a second entrant in the event, and the Scots don’t appear to have any, so it looks like Alexandra Bastone of Team Wales will be the best bet to make the final. She placed 4th at Trials, going 16:40.03, a personal best. Bastone, who swims in the United States for Harvard University, placed 27th at the 2026 NCAAs in the 1650, recording a time of 16:17.85.
Canada, with such a small team heading to Glasgow, is unlikely to field a swimmer in the event as both Ella Jansen and Julie Brousseau are more suited to the shorter freestyle events and the 400 IM. Brousseau has no results for the event in the World Aquatics database, while Jansen’s PB appears to be 16:49.30, dating back to 2020. South Africa, too, is likely without any competitor, as they did not name any swimmer to the Commonwealth Games who competed in the event (or the 800 for that matter) at their national trials to their roster.
SwimSwam’s Picks
Place Name Nation Season Best Lifetime Best 1 Lani Pallister AUS 15:40.01 15:39.14 2 Erika Fairweather NZL 15:58.26 15:58.26 3 Eve Thomas NZL 16:11.20 16:07.46 4 Tiana Kritzinger AUS 16:10.59 16:10.59 5 Caitlin Deans NZL 16:11.42 16:07.68 6 Amelia Blocksidge ENG 16:22.93 16:10.23 7 Molly Walker AUS 16:13.59 16:13.59 8 Alexandra Bastone WAL 16:40.03 16:40.03Read the full story on SwimSwam: 2026 Commonwealth Games Previews: Not all Fair Weather for Pallister in Distance Free Triple Quest
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