Four-time world indoor champ Tom Walsh, the most decorated male athlete in World Athletics Indoor Championships history with seven medals, returns to defend his Commonwealth Games title alongside Birmingham 2022 silver medallist Jacko Gill.<\/p>\n
Walsh and Gill\u2019s one-two finish in Birmingham was one of the big moments of the Games, with the pair now joined by rising young thrower Nick Palmer at Glasgow 2026. Palmer has trained alongside Walsh in recent years and is a regular 20m-plus thrower.<\/p>\n
In the women\u2019s field events, Imogen Ayris makes her return as the reigning Commonwealth Games bronze medallist in the pole vault.<\/p>\n
She will arrive in Glasgow in career-best form after a bronze medal at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland, this year and clearing a new PB of 4.81m at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland, in June.<\/p>\n
She is joined in the pole vault by three-time Olympian and 2018 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Eliza McCartney, the national record holder at 4.94m and 2025 London Diamond League winner Olivia McTaggart. <\/p>\n
The trio make up one of the deepest women\u2019s pole vault groups New Zealand has fielded at a major Games.<\/p>\n
Reigning high jump world, Commonwealth and Olympic champion Hamish Kerr also returns to the New Zealand Team. Kerr cleared 2.30m this year at the Track Stars event in Auckland and has set his sights for more at Glasgow 2026.<\/p>\n
Sprint star Zoe Hobbs leads the women\u2019s track programme fresh off a Diamond League podium in Oslo, Norway, and an 11.00s performance over 100m in Darwin, Australia, at the Oceania Athletics Championships.<\/p>\n
In the middle distances the New Zealand Team is represented by Paris Olympian James Preston in the men\u2019s 800m, who shattered Sir Peter Snell\u2019s 62-year-old 800m national record in 2024, and two-time Olympian Sam Tanner who will contest the men\u2019s one mile. <\/p>\n
Beamish has also been given permission to start in the men\u2019s one mile in Glasgow, meaning two Kiwis could contest the distance which returns to the Commonwealth Games programme for the first time since 1966.<\/p>\n
National javelin record holder Tori Moorby and five-time national hammer champion Lauren Bruce lead the women\u2019s throws, while reigning World Under-20 triple jump champion Ethan Olivier makes his Commonwealth Games debut. <\/p>\n
The heptathlon features debutants Briana Stephenson, alongside national champion Maddie Wilson. Anthony Barmes, James Steyn and Nick Southgate round out the team in the men\u2019s hammer and pole vault respectively.<\/p>\n
Athletics New Zealand chief executive Cam Mitchell said the team was one of the strongest athletics contingents New Zealand had assembled for a Commonwealth Games.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom reigning world, Commonwealth and Olympic champions to athletes competing at their first Games, we have exceptional depth and real medal aspirations across multiple events. Glasgow 2026 is going to be an outstanding Games for New Zealand athletics.\u201c<\/p>\n
New Zealand Olympic Committee chief executive Nicki Nicol congratulated the athletes on their selections.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe welcome each of the 21 athletes selected to the New Zealand Team for Glasgow 2026,\u201d Nicol said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn recent years, athletics has provided us with some memorable moments at Games time and we hope this group will continue that legacy of performance excellence, all while wearing the fern with pride and distinction,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The athletics programme takes place at Scotstoun Sports Campus from July 27 to August 1.<\/p>\n
NZ Team \u2014 Athletics | Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games:<\/p>\n
Max Attwell \u2013 Men\u2019s Decathlon<\/p>\n
Imogen Ayris \u2013 Women\u2019s Pole Vault<\/p>\n
Anthony Barmes \u2013 Men\u2019s Hammer Throw<\/p>\n
Geordie Beamish \u2013 Men\u2019s 3000m Steeplechase<\/p>\n
Lauren Bruce \u2013 Women\u2019s Hammer Throw<\/p>\n
Jacko Gill \u2013 Men\u2019s Shot Put<\/p>\n
Anna Grimaldi \u2013 Women\u2019s 100m T47 (selected on 30 April)<\/p>\n
Zoe Hobbs \u2013 Women\u2019s 100m<\/p>\n
Hamish Kerr \u2013 Men\u2019s High Jump<\/p>\n
Eliza McCartney \u2013 Women\u2019s Pole Vault<\/p>\n
Olivia McTaggart \u2013 Women\u2019s Pole Vault<\/p>\n
Tori Moorby \u2013 Women\u2019s Javelin<\/p>\n
Ethan Olivier \u2013 Men\u2019s Triple Jump<\/p>\n
Nick Palmer \u2013 Men\u2019s Shot Put<\/p>\n
James Preston \u2013 Men\u2019s 800m<\/p>\n
Nick Southgate \u2013 Men\u2019s Pole Vault<\/p>\n
James Steyn \u2013 Men\u2019s Pole Vault<\/p>\n
Briana Stephenson \u2013 Women\u2019s Heptathlon<\/p>\n
Sam Tanner \u2013 Men\u2019s One Mile<\/p>\n
Tom Walsh \u2013 Men\u2019s Shot Put<\/p>\n
Maddie Wilson \u2013 Women\u2019s Heptathlon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four-time world indoor champ Tom Walsh, the most decorated male athlete in World Athletics Indoor Championships history with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2246,240413,16669,16671,23738,51038,90820,1887,2082,5269,6489,33611,3388,13617,117,111,43,139,69,13117,544,1557,5824,7187,28643,4741,80],"class_list":["post-477338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-2246","tag-21strong","tag-athletes","tag-athletics","tag-brightest","tag-commonwealth","tag-contingent","tag-countrys","tag-for","tag-game","tag-games","tag-glasgow","tag-makeup","tag-name","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-represent","tag-some","tag-squad","tag-talent","tag-team","tag-worldclass","tag-young","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}