South Aussie athletes on the hunt for Commonwealth Games glory
Two athletes are poised to lead Australia in the Comonwealth Games ceremony as SA’s hopefuls get onto the hunt for gold. Read the list of South Aussies fighting for a podium finish.
Source: AAP
South Australia’s top athletes and para-athletes have touched down in Glasgow as they look to secure a podium finish at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
The 25 SA-based athletes account for 10 per cent of this year’s Commonwealth Games team and include returning champions and 13 debutants.
Rio De Janeiro Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers will compete in his third consecutive Games as he aims to defend his 100-metre freestyle title and record time of 47.36 seconds set in 2022.
The Port Lincoln local already has seven gold medals to his name across three appearances, making him one of the most prolific athletes among this year’s Australian cohort.
He will be joined by fellow SA swimmers Matthew Temple, Brittany Castelluzzo, para-athlete Jasmin Fullgrabe and 20-year-old Molly Walker who will make her debut in the 800-metre freestyle following a personal-best qualifying swim.
Pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall will look to secure an historic third consecutive Commonwealth Games gold medal in the event and break the Games record set by Olympic gold medallist Steve Hooker in 2006.
Also joining the athletics team is shot put fancy Marley Raikiwasa, and 10,000-metre race walkers Timothy Fraser and Elizabeth McMillen.
Up and coming sprint star Aidan Murphy will make his 200-metre sprint debut after registering a 19.88-second performance at the Australian Athletics Championships.
Sport Minister Rhiannon Pearce said SA has a “proud history” of producing world-class athletes.
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“We have such a strong mix of experienced champions and emerging talent, demonstrating our strength at nurturing high-performance athletes,” Pearce said.
Ten SA cycling track athletes have also made the trip to Glasgow including 2022 Birmingham gold medallists Leigh Hoffman and Sophie Edwards who will again be in the mix to win the team pursuit.
They will be joined by endurance cyclists Blake Agnoletto, Oliver Bleddyn, Thomas Cornish, Connor Leahy, Claudia Marcks, James Moriarty, Alyssa Polites and sprint cyclist Tayte Ryan.
Adelaide Thunderbirds stars Georgie Horjus and Matilda Garrett are set to make their debut for the Australian Diamonds only three weeks after a record-breaking premiership victory in the Suncorp Super Netball league.
They will be joined by veteran Sarah Klau who was an integral part of the Australian Diamond’s gold medal win in 2022.
Jesse Moore will return for his second Games in a leadership role within the men’s artistic gymnastics team after falling just short of a bronze medal finish in 2022.
Weightlifter Kiana Elliott will make her second Commonwealth Games appearance as she competes in the women’s 63-kilogram category after finishing fourth in 2022.
Aussies to carry the flag – and baton
In-form pole vaulter Nina Kennedy and para-swimming star Tim Hodge will have key roles for Australia at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony later on Thursday.
Kennedy will carry the flag and Hodge will be the baton bearer when the team marches out on Thursday night (early Friday morning AEST) at Glasgow’s Hydro indoor arena.
While Kennedy will be the 24th Australian to carry the flag at a Commonwealth Games opening ceremony, the baton bearer is a new honour.
Rather than a single King’s baton, for the first time all 74 countries and territories were given their own to decorate and bring to the opening ceremony.
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The King started the main Scotland baton relay in March last year. It contains the full message he will read at the opening ceremony, while other batons each contain one word from his message.
Kennedy and Hodge won gold medals four years ago at the Birmingham Games and remain at the peak of their sports.
Australian flag bearer Nina Kennedy is seeking to win back-to-back Commonwealth Games gold medals. Photo: AAP
After winning pole vault gold at the Paris Olympics, Kennedy took an extended break because of a hamstring injury.
“I’ve had a long road with injuries to get back to this point, so to be trusted with this now, on top of everything else so far this season, means more than I can really put into words,” Kennedy said.
Hodge, likewise, is a decorated two-time Commonwealth Games star, winning two silver medals on the Gold Coast and then gold at Birmingham in the S9 100-metres backstroke.
He won the 200-metre individual medley SM9 at the Paris Paralympics and was also a member of the victorious mixed 4×100-metre medley relay 34 points team.
Hodge has won two world titles and holds the world record for the S9 200-metre individual medley.
Para-swimmer Tim Hodge will carry the Australian baton at the Thursday’s opening ceremony. Photo: AAP
“I’ve watched the team come into the stadium both times and felt so much pride watching the green and gold walking in,” Hodge said.
“To now have that role myself, to have it happen in Glasgow of all places, the same city where I made my international debut, means the Games already feel special.”
Defector stokes ex-teammate’s fire
Former Australian-turned-Briton Matt Richardson may have become public enemy No.1 in Australian cycling when he decamped to ride for the country of his birth — but the Commonwealth’s fastest man on two wheels reckons it’s all had “zero effect” on him.
And if the flyer now in Team England colours thinks there’s any lingering animosity towards him, having won two titles in the green-and-gold at the last Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, he promises to just use it as “fuel” for more success.
The 27-year-old was born in the English town of Maidstone but moved to Perth at nine and went on to carve out a brilliant track career for Australia. He caused a sensation by switching allegiance straight after winning two silvers and a bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
He received a life ban for competing for Australia. But despite early bitter criticism Australia, Richardson has since carved out a strikingly impressive career in GB and England skinsuits.
“I tried to block out all the negativity, and all the noise,” he said when recalling the initial furore surrounding his “defection”.
“Ultimately, it has zero effect on me. If, for some reason, the British public didn’t take it well, that wouldn’t have been very good — but it wasn’t the case.”
—with AAP
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