Team Wales targets Glasgow medals as Commonwealth Games get underway

Dewi Williams

Team Wales will begin its bid for Commonwealth Games medals in Glasgow tonight as the scaled-down event officially gets under way.

The opening ceremony at the Hydro Arena will formally launch the 23rd Commonwealth Games, although competition has already begun with bowls and para-bowls heats taking place during the day.

Wales has selected 114 athletes – 66 women and 48 men, including 22 para-athletes – who will compete across 10 sports before the closing ceremony on August 2.

A total of 215 gold medals will be awarded across the Games, which will bring together athletes from 74 nations and territories.

Glasgow stepped in to host the Games after the Australian state of Victoria withdrew in 2023 because of rising projected costs. As a result, this year’s event features fewer sports and athletes than previous editions. The programme will, however, include a record 47 para-sport medal events.

Among Wales’ leading medal hopes is Olympic cycling champion Emma Finucane, who headlines a squad blending established international stars with a new generation of athletes looking to make their mark on the Commonwealth stage.

Wales won 28 medals, including eight golds, at the Birmingham Games in 2022. Their best-ever Commonwealth Games performance came on Australia’s Gold Coast in 2018, when they claimed 36 medals, including 10 golds.

With the event scaled down this year, comparing Wales’ overall medal haul with previous Games will be difficult. Nevertheless, the team will be aiming to represent Wales with distinction while challenging for medals across the programme.

Defending champions

Several members of Team Wales will be aiming to retain the titles they won in Birmingham four years ago, including para-athletes Olivia Breen and Aled Davies.

Breen will defend her women’s T38 100 metres title, while Davies will target another gold in the men’s F44/F64 discus after topping the podium in 2022.

Light middleweight boxer Rosie Eccles will also be hoping to repeat her Birmingham triumph, with these Games expected to be her final Commonwealth appearance.

Daniel Salmon has the chance to achieve a remarkable third consecutive Commonwealth Games gold medal in the men’s pairs bowls, having won on the Gold Coast in 2018 and in Birmingham four years later.

International stars

Several Welsh athletes arrive in Glasgow with medals from the world’s biggest sporting stages.

Finucane claimed Olympic gold in Paris in 2024 and will be among Team Wales’ strongest favourites for the podium.

Nineteen-year-old Olympic gymnast Ruby Evans won silver in the floor exercise at the World Championships and is another athlete expected to challenge for medals.

Sprinter Jeremiah Azu also enjoyed Olympic success in Paris, winning bronze as part of Great Britain’s 4x100m relay team, having previously become world indoor champion over 60 metres.

Para-swimmers Rhys Darbey and Ela Letton-Jones have also excelled internationally. Darbey won Paralympic gold and silver in Paris, while Letton-Jones claimed silver at last year’s World Para Swimming Championships.

All five will be hoping to add Commonwealth medals to their growing collections.

Familiar faces

Some athletes may already be familiar to viewers for achievements beyond their Commonwealth careers.

Adele Nicoll will compete in the shot put after representing Team GB in bobsleigh at this year’s Winter Olympics in Italy, while swimmer Matt Richards arrives as an Olympic gold and silver medallist from Paris.

Several Team Wales medallists from Birmingham will also be looking to build on those performances this summer. Swimmer Medi Harris, boxer Owain Harris-Allen and cyclists Will Roberts, Lowri Thomas, Rhian Edmunds and James Ball are among those returning after reaching the podium in 2022.

Welsh athletes will also compete in weightlifting, netball, judo and 3×3 wheelchair basketball, with the squad ranging in age from 16 to 72.

A new generation

Team Wales finished 10th in the medal table in Birmingham, where 201 athletes competed across 16 sports. This year’s squad is considerably smaller because of the reduced programme, making direct comparisons with previous Games difficult.

Every nation, however, faces the same challenge, meaning the final medal table will still provide a fair measure of success.

For some athletes, Glasgow offers the chance to cement already-established international reputations. For others, it provides an opportunity to announce themselves on one of the biggest stages outside the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

With a blend of defending champions, Olympic medallists and emerging young talent, Team Wales will hope Glasgow marks the beginning of another successful chapter in its Commonwealth Games story.

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