By Sarah Dyce

Australia’s swimmers turned six days at Tollcross International Swimming Centre into the most successful Commonwealth Games campaign the country has ever produced in the pool.

The Dolphins topped the final medal table with 37 gold, 16 silver and 23 bronze, 76 medals in total from a 60-strong squad, eclipsing the previous best haul from Gold Coast 2018 and topping Birmingham 2022 as well.

Winning every relay they entered, eight from eight, breaking a Games record in six of them, and setting 11 Commonwealth Games records in total across the meet, the Australian team were a force to be reckoned with. 

Headlined by Meg Harris’s six gold medals and Alex Perkins’s five gold and a silver, the team produced six clean sweeps of the podium along the way.

Kyle Chalmers arrived in Glasgow chasing Ian Thorpe’s Australian record of 10 Commonwealth Games gold medals. He matched it on the final night with a shared 50m butterfly title alongside Ben Armbruster, then surpassed Thorpe’s overall medal tally to become Australia’s most decorated male Commonwealth Games swimmer with 12 medals.

Flynn Southam emerged as the clearest symbol of Australia’s changing of the guard, defeating Kyle Chalmers for 100m freestyle gold, while Cam McEvoy finally claimed an individual Commonwealth title in the 50m freestyle at the same pool where he made his Games debut in 2014.

Sam Short and Lani Pallister each completed the 400m-800m-1500m freestyle treble, while Sam Williamson won both the 50m and 100m breaststroke titles in a comeback from a ruptured patellar tendon. 

Shayna Jack closed out her career with two gold and two bronze, alongside brother and emerging star Jamie Jack, who also claimed two golds and a bronze on his Games debut.

Timothy Hodge, the team’s inaugural Baton Bearer, defended his 100m backstroke S9 title, and 17-year-old debutant Beau Matthews won the 100m breaststroke SB9 with Hodge taking bronze. Lakeisha Patterson, at her fourth Games, closed out her campaign with gold in the 100m freestyle S9. 

Kirralee Hayes and Jenna Jones traded places on the podium across the two sprints, reversing positions each time: Jones’s gold to Hayes’s bronze in the 100m freestyle S13, then Hayes’s gold to Jones’s bronze in the 50m.

It was, by every measure, the best Commonwealth Games campaign Australian swimming has ever produced, and after six days in Glasgow, the Dolphins have every reason to be proud of what they’ve built.