Track and Field (Athletics) at the Commonwealth Games

Athletics is one of the two compulsory Commonwealth Games sports (the other is swimming). It is also one of three sports that has been on every Games program (the others are boxing and swimming).

110m hurdles at Glasgow 2014

Track and Field events can generally be divided into three categories – running, jumping and throwing. There is also a combined multiple event for men (decathlon) and women (heptathlon), and para-events.

Para-athletics events are included in the Commonwealth Games athletics program. They were first included as demonstration events in 1994 (men's wheelchair 800m and marathon), and since 2002 events for athletes with a disability have been an official part of the program.

Glasgow 2026 Athletics

Athletics at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games was held from 27 July to 1 August 2026 at Scotstoun Stadium. As part of a streamlined program, all events were staged inside the stadium (out-of-stadium road events such as the marathon were not contested), while a record 16 para-athletics events across eight disciplines were fully integrated into the schedule. Around 33 nations took part.

The headline change was the return of the Commonwealth Mile for both men and women, a tribute to Roger Bannister and John Landy’s duel over the distance at the 1954 Games in Vancouver. The mile replaced the 1500m and was run at the Games for the first time since 1966. A new mixed 4x400m relay was also added to the program.

Results and Highlights

In front of a home crowd, Scotland’s Josh Kerr won the first modern Commonwealth Mile, emulating Bannister 72 years on. The reigning world-record holder over the distance held off Australia’s Cameron Myers (silver) and Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot (bronze). In the women’s mile, Australia’s Abbey Caldwell led an Australian clean sweep of the medals.

In the sprints, Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme won the men’s 100m in a Games-record time, while New Zealand’s Zoe Hobbs took the women’s 100m title ahead of England’s Amy Hunt. Australia’s Kurtis Marschall set a Games record on the way to a third consecutive men’s Pole Vault gold, and Jamaica’s Dejanea Oakley completed a double in the women’s 400m and the mixed 4x400m relay.

Australia dominated the athletics program, topping the medal table well clear of the field, with Jamaica second and England third. The medal counts for the top three nations are shown below.

Trivia

• Australia's Decima Norman’s winning performances in Athletics at the 1938 Games - 1st in all events in which she competed, winning 5 Gold medals (100 yards, 220 yards, Broad Jump, 440 yards Medley Relay; 660 yards Medley Relay.
• Englishman Jack Holden won the 1950 marathon in Auckland, despite being bitten by a dog.
• 1954 Games in Vancouver was host to the ‘Miracle Mile’, with both the gold medalist, Roger Bannister of England, and silver medalist, John Landy of Australia, run sub-four minute races.
• New Zealander Yvette Williams became a Games legend when she won gold in the discus, shot put and long jump at the 1954 Vancouver games.
• Australian Raelene Boyle won the sprints double (100m and 200m) in 1970 and 1974. She was the last to win the female sprints double, a feat that had occurred at each of the nine Games since 1934. No female has won the double since.
• Winner of the 2010 Women's Pole Vault competition was Australian Alana Boyd, who became the only child of two Games champions to win her own gold medal. Her father Ray also won the Pole Vault, in 1982, and her mother Denise won the 200m in 1978.
• Race walking events for men at the 2022 Commonwealth Games were reduced to a 10km event. From 1998-2018 it was 20km, and from 1978-1994 it was 30km (there was also a 50km walk from 1998-2006).
• Scottish distance runner Eilish McColgan won the 2022 Commonwealth Games 10,000m, replicating the feat of her mother Liz McColgan who won the same race in 1986 and 1990. In doing so, Eilish broke her mother's Commonwealth Games record for the event.
• The mile returned to the Commonwealth Games program at Glasgow 2026, replacing the 1500m and being run for the first time since 1966. Scotland’s Josh Kerr won the men’s race in front of a home crowd, 72 years after Roger Bannister’s famous Vancouver mile.