Powerlifting at the Commonwealth Games

Powerlifting is an event of the sport of weightlifting, and has been part of the Commonwealth Games program since the 2002 Games. Powerlifting at the Commonwealth Games is a sport solely for disabled athletes.

At the 2002 Commonwealth Games, there was an event for men in weightlifting called the Bench Press for Elite Athletes with a Disability (EAD, Multi-Disability), won by Solomon Amarakuo of Nigeria with a lift of 150.4 kg.

From 2006 onwards, powerlifting events have been held. In 2006 there was a single open event, in 2010 there were open powerlifting events for men and women.

In 2014, there were four powerlifting events, for men (72kg and 72+kg) and women (61kg and 61+kg). All gold medals were won by athletes from Nigeria.

In 2018, there were four powerlifting events, for men and women, lightweight and heavyweight categories. All gold medals were again won by athletes from Nigeria.

Glasgow 2026 Para Powerlifting

Para powerlifting delivered the first medals of the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, held at the Commonwealth Arena from 24 July 2026. There were four events – lightweight and heavyweight for both men and women.

Results and Highlights

England’s Mark Swan won the very first gold medal of the Games in the men’s lightweight, lifting 222kg to edge Nigeria’s Roland Ezuruike on countback after the pair tied on 153.9 points.

Nigeria otherwise dominated the platform, taking three of the four golds and setting several world records – through Folashade Oluwafemiayo (women’s heavyweight, a 175kg world record), Esther Nworgu (women’s lightweight, a Games record) and Riluwan Idris (men’s heavyweight).

England finished with three medals in all, Matthew Harding taking silver in the men’s heavyweight and Olivia Broome bronze in the women’s lightweight. Malaysia (Bonnie Bunyau Gustin), Australia (Hani Watson) and India (Jhandu Kumar) each collected a bronze.

The leading nations on the para powerlifting medal table are shown below.