2026 Commonwealth Games: Day 1 Finals Live Recap ...Middle East

By Retta Race on SwimSwam

2026 COMMONWEALTH GAMES

We’re about to see the first evening session of the 2026 Commonwealth Games unfold with several of the top performers of the competition ready to rumble on both the men’s and women’s sides.

As a reminder, individual events 200m and over move from prelims into semi-finals, as will be the case for the men’s 50m back, women’s 50m fly and men’s 100m breast. For the medal-contending races this evening, we’ll be treated to the women’s 400m free, men’s 200m IM and the 4x100m free relay for both.

Entering the final, World champion Erika Fairweather of New Zealand holds a narrow lead over Aussies Lani Pallister, Jenna Forrester and Amelia Weber in the 4free.

Fairweather and Pallister are members of the exclusive sub-4:00 club, an association to which just seven women in history belong.

One thing that’s guaranteed is that the podium will look entirely different than four years ago, where absentees Summer McIntosh of Canada reaped gold, Ariarne Titmus of Australia nabbed silver and teammate Kiah Melverton bagged the bronze.

Immediately thereafter we’ll have the men’s 200m IM final on-deck, an event in which this morning’s top five performers were remarkably separated by just .11.

Aussie William Petric will be seeking his first senior international medal as the field leader but he has two-time Olympic silver medalist and reigning Commonwealth Games champion Duncan Scott of the host nation in his path as the 5th seed.

Throw in Olympic multi-medalist and 2022 Games silver medalist Tom Dean, his English stalwart teammate Max Litchfield and Kiwi national record holder and reigning bronze medalist Lewis Clareburt and this is another must-watch race with a Games record potentially at risk.

Hannah Fredericks leads the 2back field for Australia but will have Scotland’s Holly McGill and Katie Shanahan hot on her heels, along with Forrester who turned in a tough double to pair this race with her 4free.

Additional swimmers in the water for their semi-finals include Pieter Coetze of South Africa after putting up a new Games Record in the 50m back, Alex Perkins in the 50m fly and Adam Ramsay-Peaty in the 100m breaststroke.

The high-octane 4x100m free relays will seal up tonight’s session, where Australia enters as the top-seeded squads.

WOMEN’S 400 FREESTYLE – FINAL

GOLD – Lani Pallister (AUS), 3:59.56 SILVER – Erika Fairweather (NZL), 4:02.65 BRONZE – Jenna Forrester (AUS), 4:05.25

24-year-old Lani Pallister attacked this women’s 400m free final with gusto from her very first stroke, leading the field wire-to-wire to fire off a big-time result of 3:59.56 as the gold medalist.

New Zealand’s national record older and world champion Erika Fairweather stayed within about half a second of the Aussie until about the 300m mark when Pallister widened her gap to hold about a second advantage which further extended to the end of the race.

Fairweather settled for silver in 4:02.65.

Pallister’s teammate Jenna Forrester made it onto the podium in 4:05.25, good enough for bronze with a time about one second off her personal best of 4:04.30 from last month’s Trials.

Amelia Weber, also from Australia, finished 4th in 4:08.70, as Ching Hwee Gan turned in a super solid lifetime best of 4:09.34 to bump herself from 8th out of the heats to 5th overall in a new Singaporean national record.

Pallister’s lifetime best remains at the 3:58.87 notched at the 2025 World Championships to sit only behind retired Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus as the 2nd-best Aussie woman in history.

Fairweather’s best-ever remains positioned at the 3:59.44 she clocked as 2024 world champion to join the exclusive 7-woman club of sub-4:00 performers.

MEN’S 200 IM – FINAL

GOLD – Duncan Scott (SCO), 1:56.38 SILVER –  BRONZE – 

WOMEN’S S13 100 FREESTYLE – FINAL

GOLD –  SILVER –  BRONZE – 

MEN’S S13 100 FREESTYLE – FINAL

GOLD –  SILVER –  BRONZE – 

WOMEN’S 200 BACKSTROKE – FINAL

GOLD –  SILVER –  BRONZE – 

MEN’S 50 BACKSTROKE – SEMI-FINALS

Top 8:

WOMEN’S 50 BUTTERFLY – SEMI-FINALS

Top 8:

MEN’S 100 BREASTSTROKE – SEMI-FINALS

Top 8:

WOMEN’S SM10 200 IM- FINAL

GOLD –  SILVER –  BRONZE – 

MEN’S S10 100 BUTTERFLY – FINAL

GOLD –  SILVER –  BRONZE – 

WOMEN’S 4×00 FREESTYLE RELAY – FINAL

GOLD –  SILVER –  BRONZE – 

MEN’S 4×00 FREESTYLE RELAY – FINAL

GOLD –  SILVER –  BRONZE – 

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