Australia will send 256 athletes to a stripped-back Glasgow Commonwealth Games, which open on Thursday with the first fully indoor ceremony in the event's history at the city's OVO Hydro arena.
The Games run 10 sports over 10 days of competition, from 23 July to 2 August, less than half the program Birmingham staged four years ago. Glasgow agreed to host on a reduced scale in October 2024, after the original host, the Australian state of Victoria, withdrew in 2023 over a blowout in costs. Cricket, hockey, rugby sevens, badminton and road cycling are among the sports left off the schedule.
The team is led by chef de mission Petria Thomas, the nine-time Commonwealth champion swimmer who became the first woman in the role at Birmingham. Swimming is the largest contingent with 60 in the pool, ahead of an 86-strong athletics squad, with the rest of the team spread across the other eight sports.
Discus thrower Matt Denny goes in as the defending champion. Pole vaulters Kurtis Marschall and Nina Kennedy are both defending their titles, Olympic silver medallist Jessica Hull and 2022 gold medallist Oliver Hoare lead the middle-distance running, and race walker Jemima Montag has won gold at the past two Games. "Winning one Commonwealth Games gold was special, but the opportunity to go for a third straight title means everything," Marschall said on his selection.
The most talked-about Australian sprinter will not be there. Gout Gout, the 18-year-old who holds the Australian 200 metres record and the world under-20 mark at 19.67 seconds, pulled out of selection in February to target the World Under-20 Championships, then tore a hamstring in training that ended his season and ruled him out of both meets. Aidan Murphy, who has run 19.88 this year, takes the 200 metres place.
Australia's team baton was designed by Chern'ee Sutton, a Kalkadoon artist who has worked with the team since the 2018 Gold Coast Games. For the first time each of the 74 competing nations and territories carries its own baton into the ceremony. "It means that First Nations art and history will be embraced on the global stage," Sutton said when the design was unveiled.
Competition starts Thursday. The Diamonds, the defending netball champions, reached Glasgow on Monday to begin their title defence, and the Games close on 2 August.
