The 23rd Commonwealth Games kicks off this week in Glasgow, Scotland – and 257 Aussie athletes across a wide range of sports are ready to bring home a lot of medals.
To help celebrate the Games, Woman’s Day is shining a spotlight on some of our best athletes and para athletes that you should be watching.
MILE A MINUTE
He’s our rising middle-distance track star, and for Cameron Myers, who at 20 is ranked No. 1 in the world over 1500m, he’s only just getting started!
This is his first Commonwealth Games competing in the historical mile race, which is returning for the first time in 60 years, since it was last run at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica, where it was won by Kenyan legend Kip Keino.
The Canberra native has stunned the athletics world, with many former champions tipping he’s up there with England’s Roger Bannister, who was the first man to ever break the four-minute mile, and Australian track legend John Landy.
Known for his trademark humility, he credits much of his success to mum Jo, who recognised when he was just 10 that he was something special, so she enlisted respected coach Lee Bobbin to take charge.
At 14, Lee knew that Cam needed more, and he sought out elite coach and former AFL legend Dick Telford, who still coaches him.
WATCH OUT FOR… The highly anticipated final is scheduled for the closing day of athletics, and it’s tipped to be one of the most hotly contested races of the comp.
Cam’s biggest threats are Scottish Olympic star Josh Kerr and World silver medallist Jake Wightman.
LUCKY’S DREAMS
She’s “Lucky” by name, but behind the sweetest of smiles, swim star Lakeisha Patterson OAM, who has cerebral palsy, is one of the fiercest competitors in the pool.
This is her fourth Commonwealth Games, and at 27 she is one of the most respected in the Australian Para Swimming Team.
Her mother Sherryn – who has battled cancer over the years and as a single mum worked three jobs to support Lakeisha and her two older sisters Tehlia and Kiarna – is her biggest fan.
Behind the cap, goggles and medals is a kid who dared to dream big, and with 19 Paralympic, World Champs and Commonwealth Games medals, including nine gold, she is hoping to add a few more in Glasgow.
Lakeisha’s pet events, the 100m and 400m freestyle S9 are her best shots for gold.
WATCH OUT FOR… 400m bronze medallist from Tokyo Paralympics, Scottish swimmer Toni Shaw.
KING KYLE
This will be Kyle Chambers’ third Commonwealth Games, having competed at the 2018 Gold Coast Games and four years later in Birmingham England.
He’s hoping to add to his already impressive haul of nine medals, including seven gold, and at 28 the swim star’s never been hungrier.
Standing at 1.94-metres tall, he’s as famous for his dominance in the blue ribbon 100m freestyle event, winning a total of seven Olympic medals across three Olympic Games, as he is for his trademark warrior-like tattoos.
Often misunderstood, even unfairly labelled as the “bad boy” of Australian swimming, the sprint veteran has put all that behind him as he prepares to defend his title from 2022.
And he credits two very special people for turning his life around – wife Inge, a Norwegian Olympic swimmer he first connected with at international swim meets before she relocated to Adelaide in 2023, and their precious baby girl, 11-month-old Astrid Olivia.
In several heartfelt social media posts the former tough guy, who was born and raised in the South Australian town of Port Lincoln, has expressed how much “Ingie” and her amazing determination, and her “supermum” status, motivates him to be the best possible version of himself both in and out of the pool.
And this complete about-face hasn’t gone unnoticed with teammates, with many commenting how these days he’s more of a big soft teddy bear since meeting Inge and becoming a dad for the first time.
Cheering on her daddy poolside at Glasgow’s Tollcross International Swimming Centre will be little Astrid, who is the family’s secret “lucky charm”.
Regarded as one of the greatest sprint swimmers in history, winning gold in Glasgow is going to feel just that little bit more special knowing this one’s for his beautiful girls.
WATCH OUT FOR… Scottish star Duncan Scott won gold at the 2018 Gold Coast Games in an upset, with Kyle tied for silver. This is set to be one of the real battles in the pool, especially with the Scotsman having the hometown advantage.
CHAMPION KID
He’s just 20, but Sam Short is poised to be Australia’s next big star of the pool.
Already compared to swimming great Grant Hackett, the former Queensland surf lifesaving champ holds the current 800m Commonwealth record and will compete across the 200m, 400m, 800m and the 1500m, which he won at the Birmingham Games in 2022.
WATCH OUT FOR… Northern Ireland’s Danny Wiffen won silver in the 1500m in the same event Sam Short won gold and is set to give our Aussies a run for their money.
His identical twin brother Nathan, who narrowly missed making the Northern Irish team, is his brother’s loyal training partner.
WOMBAT WINNERS
No one quite knows how our 3×3 men’s wheelchair basketball team got their name the Wombats, though it is believed the cute and cuddly marsupial is one of the most resilient of all mammals.
The men’s team are aiming to defend their gold medal from Birmingham 2022 with Paralympians Tom O’Neill-Thorne, Luke Pople and Eithen Leard again suiting up, alongside young Victorian talent Tomas Klein.
It’s one of the most exciting sports at the Commonwealth Games, known for its fast-paced and physical action of the 3×3 format.
WATCH OUT FOR… The silver and bronze teams from Birmingham 2022 – Canada and Team England – with dark horse South Africa tipped to make the podium.
SPARKLING STARS
They’re not called the Diamonds for nothing, because when it comes to the Australian women’s netball team, they don’t just shine – they sparkle!
Looking to defend their gold medal from Birmingham 2022 defeating firm favourites Jamaica, what makes these women even more amazing is that thanks to a recent baby boom, three of their superstars are mums!
Gretel Bueta has three children, Bobby, Toby and Lacy, Paige Hadley has a son, Tully, and Maddy Proud gave birth to little Lily in May last year.
WATCH OUT FOR… The netball runs over nine days, from Saturday, July 25 to Sunday, August 2, and our mates across the ditch, New Zealand’s Silver Ferns, who won bronze in Birmingham, are ready to enact the ultimate revenge.
GOLDEN RUNNERS
Australians across the country don’t seem to care too much that our latest athletics golden boy, 25-year-old Eddie Osei-Nketia, was born in New Zealand.
Eddie only switched his allegiance to compete for Australia after the Kiwis controversially left him out of their national teams in 2021 and 2022.
Of Ghanaian descent, it’s a case of a chip off the old block, with Eddie’s dad Gus a former NZ 100m record holder, a record he held for 28 years.
All eyes will be on Eddie at Glasgow’s Scotstoun Stadium when he lines up with some of the fastest people on the planet for the men’s 100m final.
Having clocked an unofficial 9.74 in May, and with the Commonwealth record standing at 9.88, Eddie is hoping to become the first Australian man to win Commonwealth Games gold in the most anticipated event.
WATCH OUT FOR… Dubbed the Field of Dreams, the final of the men’s 100m is tipped to be one of the fastest in Games history.
Eddie can expect stiff competition from two of his teammates, Lachlan Kennedy and Rohan Browning.
Internationally, Nigeria’s Favour Ashe and Jamaican Oblique Seville are both in the best form of their lives.
