New Zealand has named a 21-strong track and field team for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, and it is built around a core of athletes who already own the biggest titles in their events. Olympic high jump champion Hamish Kerr headlines the squad, alongside world steeplechase champion Geordie Beamish and the vastly experienced shot putter Tom Walsh, giving the team genuine medal pedigree before a single athlete has stepped onto the runway at Scotstoun.
The Games run from 27 July to 1 August, with the athletics programme staged across that same window at the Scotstoun Sports Campus in Glasgow. It is a tighter, scaled-back edition of the Commonwealth Games after Glasgow stepped in to host a streamlined version of the event, and athletics remains one of the headline sports on the reduced schedule. For New Zealand that means a smaller team than at recent Games, with selectors leaning towards athletes who can realistically reach finals and fight for medals rather than filling every available event.
Kerr is the obvious drawcard. He arrives in Glasgow as the reigning World, Commonwealth and Olympic high jump champion, a clean sweep of the major titles that almost no New Zealand athlete has matched. He cleared 2.30 metres at the Track Stars meeting in Auckland earlier this year and will start a strong favourite to defend the Commonwealth crown he won in Birmingham. Defending a title is a different kind of pressure to winning one, but Kerr has spent the past two seasons proving he handles the big occasions better than most.
Walsh brings a similar weight of history to the shot put circle. A four-time world indoor champion and a fixture of the New Zealand throws scene for more than a decade, he heads a strong domestic rivalry in his own event. Jacko Gill, the silver medallist from the 2022 Games, and Nick Palmer are also named, meaning New Zealand could fill several places in a single shot put final. It is the kind of depth in one event that smaller athletics nations rarely manage, and it gives the team a strong chance of more than one medal from the circle alone.
Beamish is arguably the form athlete of the group. The 3000m steeplechase world champion has shown he can mix it with the best on the global circuit, and he has also been named for the one mile, giving him two cracks at the podium across the week. He will be joined in the mile by Sam Tanner, another middle-distance runner with international pedigree, setting up the prospect of two New Zealanders pushing for places in the same final.
The sprint hopes rest largely on Zoe Hobbs, the national 100m record holder who has become a regular podium finisher on the Diamond League circuit. A major-final sprinter is still a relatively new thing for New Zealand athletics, and Hobbs has carried that role with a consistency that makes her a real contender rather than simply a participant. James Preston, the national 800m record holder, adds further strength on the track.
One of the more striking features of the team is its depth in the pole vault. New Zealand has named five vaulters across the men’s and women’s events, in Imogen Ayris, Eliza McCartney, Olivia McTaggart, Nick Southgate and James Steyn. Ayris won bronze at the 2022 Games and has cleared a personal best of 4.81 metres, while McCartney, the 2018 silver medallist, remains one of the most recognisable names in the sport. For a single discipline to account for almost a quarter of the entire athletics team says a lot about where New Zealand has quietly built strength.
The squad also reflects a deliberate blend of established names and athletes heading to their first major Games. Decathlete Max Attwell, hammer throwers Anthony Barmes and Lauren Bruce, triple jumper Ethan Olivier, javelin thrower Tori Moorby and heptathletes Briana Stephenson and Maddie Wilson all add breadth across the field events. Para-athlete Anna Grimaldi, a multiple Paralympic medallist, is named in the women’s 100m T47, continuing the integration of para events into the main Commonwealth programme.
Athletics New Zealand chief executive Cam Mitchell said the team carried real ambition to Scotland. “From reigning World, Commonwealth and Olympic champions to athletes competing at their first Games, we have exceptional depth and real medal aspirations across multiple events,” he said.
New Zealand Olympic Committee chief executive Nicki Nicol pointed to the recent track record of New Zealand athletes on the big stage. “In recent years, Athletics has provided us with some memorable moments at Games time and we hope this group will continue that legacy of performance excellence, all while wearing the fern with pride and distinction,” she said.
That legacy is part of what makes this team interesting. A decade ago New Zealand athletics relied heavily on a handful of throwers for its Commonwealth medals. The Glasgow squad spreads the load far more widely, with genuine contenders in the high jump, the shot put, the steeplechase, the sprints and the pole vault. The streamlined nature of the Games means fewer events and a sharper focus, which arguably suits a team that has chosen quality over quantity.
There will be no shortage of pressure on the marquee names. Kerr and Walsh both arrive as defending champions, Beamish as a world champion expected to deliver, and Hobbs as a sprinter the rest of the Commonwealth now takes seriously. But for a small country, sending a team where so many athletes are realistic medal chances rather than making up the numbers is a healthy place to be heading into a Games. The full team and event details have been published by Athletics New Zealand, and the selections were reported by RNZ.
Who are you most looking forward to watching in Glasgow, and which event do you think gives New Zealand its best shot at gold? Let us know in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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