Athletics Begins Monday as Team Nigeria Eyes Strong Start at Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games
The athletics competition at the 23rd Commonwealth Games will officially get underway on Monday, July 27, with Team Nigeria’s stars set to begin their quest for medals in Glasgow, Scotland.
Nigeria’s athletes will feature prominently in the morning session across the track and field events, with sprinting, hammer throw and para-athletics all on the schedule.
The day’s action begins at 10:10 a.m. with the men’s 100m first round, where current national Favour Ashe lines up in Heat 1 from Lane 4.
Ashe enters the race with a season’s best of 9.93 seconds achieved at the Commonwealth Games Trials in Lagos June and will be among the favourites to progress.
Later in the same event, Fakorede Adekalu will represent Nigeria in Heat 10, running from Lane 3 with a season’s best of 9.98 seconds, as Team Nigeria looks to have both sprinters advance to the next round.
At 11:40 a.m., attention shifts to the field as experienced thrower Oyesade Olatoye competes in the women’s hammer throw qualification (Group A).
Olatoye, who has a season’s best of 70.46m, will throw 13th in the qualification round while aiming for a place in the final.
The morning programme concludes at 12:00 noon with the women’s 100m first round, where teenage sensation Miracle Ezechukwu takes to the track in Heat 8 from Lane 8. She goes into the race with a season’s best of 11.15 seconds and will be hoping to secure a spot in the next round.
Team Nigeria’s athletics schedule continues in the evening when Eucharia Iyiazi competes in the women’s F57 shot put final at 7:05 p.m., giving Nigeria an early opportunity to challenge for a medal as athletics gets underway at the Games.
Ahead of the opening day, the President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Chief Tonobok Okowa, expressed confidence in the country’s medal prospects, describing the squad assembled for Glasgow as one of Nigeria’s strongest in recent years.
“The number of top Nigerian athletes participating at the Games is encouraging. This is an excellent spirit and it signals a renewed commitment to representing their fatherland at international competitions,” Okowa said.
He added that the arrival of many of Nigeria’s biggest track and field stars has raised expectations for the team’s performance in Scotland.
“The presence of top Nigerian athletes has heightened expectations from the country’s track and field squad at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Scotland,” the AFN president stated.
With several established international stars and promising young talents in action from the opening day, Team Nigeria will be looking to make an immediate impact as athletics begins at the 23rd Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.