Commonwealth Games 2026 LIVE: England take first gold of Games; Pallister leads swimmers into finals despite ropes drama

Here are a few eye-catching pictures from the action in Glasgow so far today.

The women’s 3x3 team has won its second game of the day, beating Jamaica 21-13 in Glasgow.

The Aussies had their issues with fouls early in the match but they gradually wore down the Jamaicans as Amy Atwell’s eight points plus some savvy points around the basket from Lara McSpadden (five) and Emma Clarke (six) helped Australia to the win.

They will take a short rest and play their third game to close out day one of competition, facing Fiji at 6.05am AEST.

It’s full steam ahead at the Armadillo, with the women’s lightweight para lifting now taking centre stage.

We have two Australian women in this event – Jade Pritchard and Natasha Price – who are both making their Games debut. I’ll be honest, they are serious underdogs, but never say never.

We could well see another gold medal for England in this event, though. Olivia Broome, who won silver at the 2022 Games in Birmingham, is in the field and has the backing of the crowd.

Don’t worry, we’ll get them in the pool later.

It’s been a day of upsets for the unlucky Aussies here in Glasgow with Dawn Hayman and Kelsey Cottrell going down to Guernsey on the second day of competition.

Hopes then turned to para mixed pair Jacky Hudson and teammate Jake Fehlberg who won their first set against Wales and were hoping to wrap things up quickly.

But Wales snatched the second set and forced a tie-breaker with six bowls each to decide a winner.

We have our first medals of the 2026 Games, and the gold has gone to England’s Mark Swan in the men’s lightweight para powerlifting.

The 25-year-old sealed victory with a 222kg lift that earned him a score of 153.9, but it’s all a tad confusing – no one has announced the win, which means there wasn’t a huge celebration from the crowd.

It’s fallen a bit flat if you ask me – most of us had to pull out our phones to check the results online ... medal ceremony to come.

Action is still under way in the men’s lightweight para powerlifting, but Australian Daniel Bos’ Games are done with the 29-year-old out of medal contention.

Bit of a strange one for our powerlifters, who have just one day of competition for the whole Games. Bos is set to fly home back to Newcastle on Sunday.

You’d think a celebration is still in order for Bos, who has just made his Commonwealth Games debut (and broke an Oceania record in doing so with a 147kg lift), but no, he’s off to the gym now to get a few more reps in.

Bowls naturally has a reputation for obviously not being the fastest or most high- paced Commonwealth Games sport in the program, but folks this is nail-biting stuff.

I’m here at the SEC centre where 75-year-old great-grandmother Jacky Hudson, is in action in the para mixed pairs alongside teammate Jake Fehlberg, competing against opponents from Wales

Born in Papua New Guinea, Hudson – who is vision-impaired – won gold with Fehlberg at the 2023 World Bowls Championships and is hoping to clinch her first gold medal here in Glasgow.

Good evening folks.

I’m out at the SEC Centre this afternoon (Glasgow time) for the first boxing matches of the tournament.

Our Aussies have a bye today, but later this weekend we’ll have Jye Dixon competing in the men’s bantamweight 55kg.

So I’ve come across to the Armadillo to watch our Aussie athletes, but I can’t help but be completely captivated by local legend Finlay Davidson.

The 21-year-old Scottish para powerlifter from Inverkeithing, just north-west of Edinburgh, knows how to work the crowd, and he’s loving the attention.

Before both Davidson’s lifts he’s given the crowd a good muscle flex, and after his second lift he sent a fist pump in the air Breakfast Club style.

With his mullet and mo, he could well be an honorary Australian, but I don’t think the home crowd would like me very much for saying that. He’s getting huge roars from the crowd after each lift, and a couple guttural ‘COME ON FINLEY’.

Davidson is ranked first at the moment after the first two lifts, while Australian Daniel Bos is in third. The athletes competing at the moment are group B, and we will have the group A athletes later before we find out who wins the first medals of the Games.

A pretty solid opening heat session there for Australia as everyone you’d expect gets through to respective semi-finals and finals.

Both women’s and men’s 4x100m freestyle relay teams did the job with inexperienced swimmers. All the big guns will be rested and ready for finals in those events tonight. Nearly unbackable gold medal favourites.

Lani Pallister left a bit out there in her 400m freestyle heat but is still my tip for gold. I reckon Australia can jag three of the top four spots in that event, with New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather likely to be in the top two.