After six days of Australian dominance in the pool, the swimming programme at Glasgow 2026 came to a close in familiar fashion as the green and gold claimed one final victory after finishing with an extraordinary 37 gold, 16 silver and 23 bronze medals in the water. The closing race also produced a slice of Commonwealth Games history as South Africa’s bronze in the men’s 4x100m medley relay earned Chad le Clos a record-breaking 21st Commonwealth Games medal, making him the most decorated athlete in the competition’s history.
Adam Ramsay-Peaty, meanwhile, bowed out of the Games with a silver medal after England finished runners-up to Australia in the final swimming event. Australia surged through the second half of the race to secure gold in a Games record of 3min 28.71sec, while England’s quartet of Oliver Morgan, Ramsay-Peaty, Edward Mildred and Jacob Mills claimed silver in 3:30.68 after holding off South Africa.
Morgan gave England a strong start with a 53.20 opening leg before Ramsay-Peaty kept them in second with a 58.74 split. Mildred slipped briefly to third on the third leg despite clocking 51.04, before Jacob Mills produced a 47.70 anchor to haul England back into second.
“To come in with the boys and get a silver medal, I can’t complain whatsoever,” said Morgan. “It’s my fifth of the week. Some of us have had tough weeks but it shows the resilience we’ve had in the team. I’ve not had the best week individually, so to come away with some silverware is really impressive. It’s about building on that, moving into next season and into LA [2028 Olympics].”
In the penultimate race, Scotland rounded off their memorable night with a silver medal in the women’s 4x100m medley relay after coming out in kilts as Australia stormed to gold in another record time.
“It’s absolutely amazing,” said Katie Shanahan. “I’m sure I can speak for all of us when I say there’s no better way to finish off a home meet than by getting that silver medal. It’s just been such an amazing meet, and it’s a week I’ll definitely remember for the rest of my life.”
“It’s something we save for the last night,” said Evelyn Davis on walking out with kilts on. “Katie’s falling off in the walkout actually calmed my nerves a bit before the crowd got going again, so it was good fun.”
Roared on by a vocal crowd, Shanahan, Angharad Evans and Keanna MacInnes battled for the lead throughout before Davis produced a composed anchor leg to hold off South Africa and Canada to secure second place. Australia, who had qualified more than four seconds faster than the field, lived up to their billing as favourites as Iona Anderson, Sienna Toohey, Alex Perkins and Meg Harris powered to gold, while South Africa snatched bronze ahead of Canada in the closing stages.
Earlier Evans had delighted the home support by winning a second breaststroke gold of the Games. The 23-year-old followed up her 100m breaststroke triumph by winning the women’s 200m breaststroke, holding off a late charge from South Africa’s Kaylene Corbett to seal victory by 0.67. Northern Ireland’s Ellie McCartney completed the podium with bronze.
“It’s been absolutely unreal,” Evans said. “With the 100m I put too much pressure on myself because that’s what I see as my main event. The 200m feels even more special because afterwards I had all these doubts: did I only win the 100m because it was a fluke? Did I just get lucky? As crazy as that sounds. To back it up with not just another medal but another gold is just so surreal.”
The evening had begun with another statement performance from South Africa’s Pieter Coetze, who retained his men’s 100m backstroke crown in emphatic fashion. He clocked a Commonwealth Games record of 51.77 – just 0.17 outside the world record – to collect his third gold medal in Glasgow after winning the 50m and 200m backstroke titles. England’s Morgan claimed silver, while Coetze’s compatriot Ruard van Renen secured bronze.
Australia also dominated the sprint events, with clean sweeps in the women’s 50m freestyle and men’s 50m butterfly. Harris led home her teammates Perkins and Shayna Jack, taking bronze in the final race of her career, in the women’s event. The Welsh teenager Theodora Taylor was fourth. In the men’s butterfly, Kyle Chalmers and Ben Armbruster shared gold after both broke the Games record with identical times of 22.7. Cameron McEvoy took bronze.
