By Sam Blacker on SwimSwam
2026 Commonwealth Games
July 24 – 29, 2026 (pool swimming) Glasgow, Scotland Tollcross International Swimming Centre LCM (50m) Meet Central Event Schedule Entry List Preview IndexJust under four years after the last edition drew to a close, the Commonwealth Games are back. Back in the UK as well, with Glasgow replacing Victoria as the location in July 2023. That means we come full circle, returning to the Tollcross centre 12 years after it hosted the swimming at the 2014 edition.
We have a bumper prelims session to kick off, featuring six individual events, two relays, and four para swimming events. As a reminder, there will be semi-finals in the 50 meter and 100 meter events, with all other distances going straight from heats to finals.
The first event will be one of the final ones from the 2022 Games, the women’s 400 free. None of the medalists from the last edition will return, with Ariarne Titmus and Kiah Melverton having retired and Summer McIntosh skipping the meet to focus on the Pan Pacific Championships.
That leaves New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather, the 2024 world champion, to battle with Australia’s Lani Pallister for gold. The pair are the only two swimmers in the field to have ever broken four minutes, and are part of an elite club of just seven women to have done so.
Pallister is the fastest woman in the Commonwealth so far this season with a 3:59.36 from the Australian Open in April, while Fairweather is second with a 4:01.42 from the New Zealand Championships.
Pallister’s teammates Jenna Forrester and Amelia Weber will be in lane 5 in the fastest two heats, with Fairweather’s teammates Eve Thomes and Caitlin Deans in lane 3 in those heats. Ella Jansen and Amalie Smith, both more at home in the IM events, will also feature and are entered in 4:08s.
The men’s 200 IM will feature all three medalists from 2022, but they have been in varying form this season. Duncan Scott is the favorite to defend his title in front of a home crowd, but Tom Dean has not broken 2:00 since the Tokyo Olympics and may be lucky to final. Evan Jones and Matt Ward flank Scott in a final heat that is likely to get a rapturous reception from the crowd, and Australia’s William Petric and New Zealand’s Lewis Clareburt lead the two earlier heats. They have both clocked 1:57s this season, with Clareburt the defending bronze medalist.
With no Kaylee McKeown or Kylie Masse in the field, the women’s 200 back is wide open. Iona Anderson and Hannah Fredericks are the top seeds in heats 1 and 3 respectively, split by returning bronze medalist Katie Shanahan, who is back in the city of her birth. Holly McGill makes for a strong 1-2 Scottish punch, but Madison Kryger dropped a second and a half from her best at Canadian Trials last month and should make a mockery of her 2:09.53 seed time.
The men’s 50 back sees last year’s breakout star Pieter Coetze in action, with the world silver medalist holding the top seed. He is not the fastest man this season though, with Great Britain’s Olly Morgan coming off a breakout season off his own with a 24.36 at the Aquatics GB Championships which ranks him at #2 in British history.
Coetze is the only returning medalist, with 2022 champion Andrew Jeffcoat and bronze medalist Ruslan Gaziev not swimming. However, with Australia’s precocious 17-year-old Henry Allan and relative veteran Isaac Cooper elite talent will not be in short supply.
Scottish teammates Matt Ward, Jamie Ferguson, and Scott Gibson will be in action, along with English pair Jack Skerry and Cam Brooker. NCAA standouts Ruard van Renen (South Africa) and Lamar Taylor (Bahamas) join them, in what is a much stronger and deeper field than four years ago.
The women’s 50 fly is another event where the class of 2026 seem to outpace that of 2022. Three women are entered under the winning time of 25.90 from Birmingham, with another two faster than the 26.05 it took to win silver four years ago.
Alexandria Perkins, the silver medalist at the 2025 World Championships and Oceania’s record holder, is the top seed in 25.31 but is closely followed by Erin Gallagher (25.39) and Hazel Ouwehand (25.43). Ouwehand has the fastest seasons best of the trio at 25.55, with Gallagher 0.01 seconds back in 25.56 and Perkins just behind in 25.60.
Eva Okaro and Caitlin de Lange both broke 26 seconds for the first time this season, and reigning world junior champion Zoe Pedersen will be one to keep an eye on in the final heat as she owns a lifetime best of 25.63. Theodora Taylor, the Welsh 17-year-old who set a British age group record of 26.46 earlier this year, could also surprise some of the more senior swimmers.
Adam Ramsay-Peaty is the top seed in the men’s 100 breast as the only man under 59 seconds, but with Sam Williamson, Filip Nowacki, Oliver Dawson, and Max Morgan also in the mix he will not have it all his own way. Ramsay-Peaty will be next to Dawson in the final heat, with former 200 breast world record holder Zac Stubblety-Cook one lane further over in lane 6.
Chris Smith, Ronan Wantenaar, and Michael Houlie will be aiming to move through safely to the semi-finals, while Jacob Story is the #15 seed for the Cook Islands and would be a well-received semi-finalist.
With fewer than ten swimmers in each of the para-swimming events, the heats should be a relative formality. The S13 class competed in the 50 free in Birmingham four years ago but move up to the 100 in Glasgow, and there is only one returning medalist on both the men’s and women’s side.
Men’s silver medalist Stephen Clegg, the home favorite, will swim up a category from his nominal S12, and is joined by his brother James. Australia’s Kirallee Hayes won bronze in the 50 four years ago and is the #6 seed in the 100 this year, although only 0.66 seconds off top seed Jenna Jones.
Col Pearse is the top seed in the men’s S10 100 fly in 56.56, just 0.17 seconds ahead of Australian teammate Alex Saffy. Fernando Lu (58.20) and Jack Gill (59.58) join them under 1:00, while S9 swimmer Barry McClements, who won bronze in the S9 100 back four years ago, will swim out of lane 7.
Faye Rogers should get a huge ovation in the women’s SM10 200 IM, entered as the only swimmer under 2:30 in 2:28.52. She won world para gold in the 400 free last summer and owns the S10 200 fly world record, but this will be her first Commonwealth Games.
We round off the session with the 4×100 freestyle relays. Australia are the favorites in both the men’s and women’s events, but the battle for placement behind them should be an interesting one. Canada, England, South Africa, Wales, and hosts Scotland could fall in any possible order on both sides, although with a spot in the finals relatively assured we will see many nations keep their top swimmers rested for the finals this evening.
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