By Sarah Dyce

The bar will rise and history will be chased when Weightlifting returns to the SEC Armadillo for Glasgow 2026, the same venue that hosted the sport when the city last staged the Commonwealth Games in 2014. 

The bar will rise and history will be chased when Weightlifting returns to the SEC Armadillo for Glasgow 2026, the same venue that hosted the sport when the city last staged the Commonwealth Games in 2014. 

Four lifters arrive in Glasgow chasing a rare feat: a third straight Commonwealth Games gold medal, and Australia’s Eileen Cikamatana is one of them. Each winning gold on the Gold Coast in 2018 and again in Birmingham four years ago.

Overview

Australia’s eleven-strong Glasgow 2026 weightlifting team blends seven Commonwealth Games debutants with four returning lifters.

In the women’s competition, Chloe Perkins (QLD) in the 48kg, Brenna Kean (VIC) in the 53kg, Ashley Kolomoisky (VIC) in the 58kg, Kiana Elliott (SA) contests the 63kg, Nya Hayman (QLD) the 69kg, Isabella Andueza (VIC) the 77kg and Eileen Cikamatana (VIC) the 86kg.

On the men’s side, Rory Scott (QLD) in the 79kg, Ryven Ewing (QLD) lifts in the 88kg Oliver Saxton (WA) in the 94kg and Ridge Barredo (NSW) in the 110kg.

Weightlifting is also the Commonwealth Games sport in which Australia has the deepest history with an all-time medal table with 158 medals, including 59 gold, and have won the men’s Trafalgar Trophy, awarded to the leading weightlifting nation, five times.

Ones to Watch

Australia

The Glasgow 2026 team reflects the continued strength and depth of Australian weightlifting, with athletes, including two juniors, selected for their Commonwealth Games debut, highlighting the next generation of talent emerging through the national program. For Cikamatana, a win in Glasgow would complete a personal three-peat spanning two countries.

Cikamatana previously made history by winning Commonwealth Games gold for two different nations and remains a leading contender in the women’s heavyweight division. 

She’s joined by other three lifters with Games experience. Barredo returns for a third straight Games in the men’s 110kg after competing on the Gold Coast in 2018 and at Birmingham 2022, while Elliott returns to the women’s 63kg and Kean in the women’s 53kg having made their debuts in Birmingham 2022. 

Andueza, Saxton, Ewing, Hayman, Kolomoisky, Scott and Perkins will step out in the green and gold for the first time, testing themselves against the best in the Commonwealth.

International

The Cook Islands has never won a Commonwealth Games gold medal, its only medal to date a bronze in lawn bowls in 2018. Mata McDonald is a chance to change that when she contests the women’s 86kg event.

Sport Format

At the Commonwealth Games, athletes in the same bodyweight category compete in a single group. A weightlifting competition is effectively a straight final conducted in two

sections: the snatch followed by the clean & jerk with a 10-minute break between each section.

In the snatch, the lift must be one movement from the platform to the full extension of the arms above the head.Rising from a squat, the lifter uses their leg strength to get the bar moving upward, and then raises the bar with the arms to a set position overhead as they settle into a squat in one continuous motion. Once stable, the lifter rises out of the squat and holds the bar steady overhead.

The clean movement starts with the hands closer together than the snatch near the middle of the bar. The lifter moves the bar up to shoulder level in one swift movement, supports the weight by going back into a squat position, then rises out of the lift and steadies the bar. In the jerk movement, the lifter moves the legs into a split – one leg straight, the other braced behind the bar – then forces the bar overhead and holds it steady.

Three referees evaluate each lift, each controlling a white light for a successful lift and a red light for a no lift. As soon as two of the three referees have made the same decision – white or red – a visible and audible signal is given to the lifter indicating they can lower the barbell.

Competition Schedule

Weightlifting runs from Sunday 26 July to Thursday 30 July 2026 at the SEC Armadillo, comprising 15 sessions across 16 medal events.

Fast Facts

• Weightlifting has been held at the Commonwealth Games since Auckland 1950.
• Women’s events were first held at Manchester 2002.
• Two trophies have been awarded to the leading weightlifting nations at the Commonwealth Games: the Trafalgar Trophy for men since Edmonton 1978 and the
• Daubney Trophy for women since Glasgow 2014. 
• Australia has won the Trafalgar Trophy five times.