Commonwealth Games Day 1 Preview
The Commonwealth Games officially kick off today, and while bowls group stages started yesterday, Friday sees the first real action kicking off, including the first medal events of the games. I'm going to aim to preview and review/react to every single day to the key storylines and every medal event but due to the sheer amount of action taking place in Glasgow im going to primarily focus on Athletics, Swimming, Gymnastics and Track Cycling as these are in my opinion, the four most intriguing sports out of the ten taking place at the smaller than usual Commonwealth games in Glasgow due to being put on at short notice after Victoria had to drop out due to limited funding.
Swimming and Para Swimming
Of the ten medal events on day 1, nine of them come in the pool, headlined by home hero Duncan Scott aiming to start his championships strong in the 200m Individual Medley. Scott is Team GB's most decorated swimmer ever with 8 Olympic medals (2 gold, 6 silver) and is Scotland's most decorated swimmer at the Commonwealths with 13 medals (3 gold, 2 silver, 8 bronze) and comes into these home games in great form and is the clear favourite to win this event as well as the 200m butterfly later in the week where he is also the fastest this year amongst the commonwealth field.
Scott has a chance to double up on medals on day 1, with Scotland fancied to medal in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay, but the favourites in both the men's and women's 4x100m relay have to be the Australians, who have historically dominated the pool at the commonwealths and in Birmingham in 2022 this was shown by winning 25 gold medals out of 52 in the pool and winning a total of 65 swimming medals across those 52 events just demonstrating that when team GB is split up Australia's depth of talent means there wont be many podiums without an Australian on them. Of the nine medal events on day 1, Australia are, in my mind, favourites to at least 6 or 7 of them, with only Scott in the Men's IM the favourite to win gold and that isnt Australian, with Lani Pallister the heavy favourite in the women's 400m freestyle following Summer McIntosh's decision to prioritise the Pan-Am Games over the Commonwealths, Katja Dedekind is the heavy favourite to win the S13 100m freestyle and the Aussies are favoured to win both relays led by Kyle Chalmers, Mollie O'Callaghan and Meg Harris who have a combined 22 olympic medals between them.
So where could the upsets come from in the medal races? Tom Dean (ENG) will fancy his chances of pushing Scott in the 200m IM, as will Lewis Clareburt (NZL), who, while being stronger over 400m, will also fancy his chances in this event, which promises to be one of the closest-run events of the championships with William Petric, Brendon Smith (both AUS) and Max Litchfield (ENG) also likely to figure in the hunt for medals.
The 400m freestyle looks like a straight fight between favourite Lani Pallister (AUS) and Erika Fairweather (NZL), who looks like the only woman capable of potentially beating Pallister.
The 200m Backstroke should be won by Kylie Masse (CAN) given Kaylee McKeown's withdrawal through injury, but Katie Shanahan (SCO) and Honey Osrin (ENG) are capable of running her close
As for the Para races on day 1, as mentioned above, Katja Dedekind (AUS) should win the S13 100m freestyle, and fellow Aussie Col Pearse is the heavy favourite in the Men's S10 100m Butterfly. The other two Para medal events on day 1 should be much tighter affairs, with the SM10 women's individual medley a straight shootout between Keira Stephens (AUS) and Toni Shaw (SCO), who, given the home advantage, is my slight favourite and in the Men's S13 100m freestyle Braeden Jason (AUS) is the slight favourite but Alex Portal (ENG) is right there in terms of times and will fancy his chances of upsetting the Aussie.
Outside of the medal events in the pool, the highlight is the return to the major international stage of Adam Ramsey-Peaty in the 100m breastroke heats and semi-finals., who has 6 Olympic medals (3 gold, 3 silver) and 7 Commonwealth medals (4 gold, 3 silver) and has been the dominant athlete in the 100m breaststroke for a decade now, having swum 14 of the 20 fastest times ever in this event. While he hasn't quite been at that sub-57 speed of the past, he is still the world's best at this event, and with the introduction of the 50m breaststroke at these games and the next Olympics in 2028, he now has double the chance of individual medals at these championships.
Gymnastics
Medal events: Men's team competition
The first day of the Gymnastics sees the men take the stage, with the morning serving as qualifiers for the individual and team medal events and the afternoon providing the first medal event as the men's teams go head-to-head for Gold. A few weeks ago, this looked promising for England to defend their gold medal from Birmingham, but with Olympic gold medalists Max Whitlock and Jake Jarmin withdrawing, this event is now much more in the air with Canada fresh off winning the Pan-Am championships ahead of the USA juggernaut. But there are at least 4 teams who could win this: the aforementioned Canadians and English, as well as Scotland, who don't have the same number of elite athletes as the other two, but they do have a very consistent team who have all been to championships before and Northern Ireland who are led by clearly the best male gymnast at these championships in Olympic Champion Rhys McClenaghan who should score at least 2 points higher than everyone else on the pommel horse which gives the rest of his team some leeway for slightly less difficult routines on the other apparatus.
Canada are the slight favourites, led by Felix Dolci and Rene Cournoyer, but if Luke Whitehouse can lay down a floor routine similar to the one that won him Silver at the last World Championships, England will be right with them in the fight for Gold, and if either slips up, Scotland, Northern Ireland and potentially Australia and Wales could be right there to nick a silver in what promises to be a very close event.
Para Weightlifting
Medal Events: Men's and Women's Lightweight and Men's and Women's Heavyweight
For the Para Powerlifting Men’s Lightweight event, Malaysian Paralympic and World champion Bonnie Bunyau Gustin enters as the reigning champion and favourite, but there is an opportunity for England’s European silver medalist Mark Swan to threaten gold. If either favourite falters, Australia’s veteran Benjamin Wright is the top contender primed to pounce on the remaining podium spot.
In the Para Powerlifting Men’s Heavyweight event, England’s top-ranked powerhouse Matthew Harding enters on blistering current form and stands as the man to beat. Looking to replicate his heroics from 2022 is India's defending champion Sudhir Lath, who remains a threat to top the podium. Meanwhile, Malaysian debutant Bryan Junency Gustin, the older brother of Bonnie, could also challenge for Gold
In the Para Powerlifting Women’s Lightweight event, England’s double Paralympic medalist Olivia Broome enters as the premier gold medal favourite, heavily tipped to claim the Commonwealth title. Her fiercest opposition comes from Nigeria’s Paralympic silver medalist Esther Nworgu, who is a direct threat for the gold in what should be a close battle between the two. England's European medalist Charlotte McGuinness and Kenya’s seasoned Paralympian Hellen Wawira Kariuki will fight it out for bronze and potentially higher should either of the top two encounter issues
The Para Powerlifting Women’s Heavyweight event, where Nigeria’s legendary Paralympic champion and world-record holder Folashade Oluwafemiayo is the undisputed superstar and overwhelming favourite for gold. Looking to challenge her dominance are England’s Tokyo Paralympic bronze medalist Louise Sugden, Australia’s Hani Watson, and Scotland's home favourite Hope Gordon, who are expected to be in a three-way fight for Bronze behind the dominant Oluwafemiayo.
As I said earlier, I'm going to focus on the four big sports primarily but will preview medal events in the other six when they come up and will review the major talking points in the events when they happen.
Daniel Mott
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