Nigeria is sending 72 athletes to the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, targeting a record 20 gold medals, surpassing the country’s previous best of 12 set at Birmingham 2022.
Seventy-two Nigerian athletes will compete across 10 sports at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, with the National Sports Commission setting a gold medal target that would set a new national record at the multi-sport event, now formally underway.
Team Nigeria completed a three-week high-performance training camp in Aberdeen, Scotland, before the first batch of athletes and officials departed for Glasgow earlier in the week. A second batch moved into the Games Village on Friday to join teammates already on the ground.
Nigeria’s campaign opens with the para powerlifting team. Team captain Folashade Oluwafemiayo, the reigning Commonwealth champion, two-time Paralympic gold medalist, four-time world champion, and multiple world record holder, will aim to defend the title she won in Birmingham.
Joining Oluwafemiayo is reigning world champion Rita Ferdinand, who equaled the women’s world record with a lift of 154 kilograms at the African Open Championships in Oran, Algeria, while also setting a new African record in the women’s up to 79-kilogram category.
On the track, world record holder Tobi Amusan seeks a third consecutive women’s 100-meter hurdles gold, having won the title in 2018 and 2022. The 29-year-old clocked a season’s best of 12.28 seconds on three occasions this year, winning Diamond League meetings in Rabat and Paris and defending her African title in Ghana.
Amusan also secured qualification for the season-ending Diamond League final in Brussels, Belgium. Sprint sensation Kayinsola Ajayi joins her as a top medal prospect, arriving in Glasgow after equalling the Nigerian men’s 100-meter national record of 9.84 seconds three times this season.
Ajayi, an Auburn University star, won both the NCAA Indoor 60 meters and NCAA Outdoor 100 meters titles. Most recently, he defeated reigning world champion Oblique Seville at the London Diamond League, a feat he had earlier achieved at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene.
Nigeria’s preparations absorbed a setback when long jump star Ese Brume withdrew through injury, ending her bid to defend the title she won with a games record leap of 7.00 meters. Ruth Usoro was drafted into the squad in her place and will compete alongside Prestina Ochonogor in the women’s long jump.
In the men’s shot put, African record holder Chukwuebuka Enekwechi carries Nigeria’s challenge. Enekwechi holds the continental record at 22.10 meters and is a two-time African champion, placing him among the team’s leading medal contenders for the Games.
Boxing will feature Patricia Mbata, a British-born middleweight who switched allegiance to Nigeria before winning gold at the African Games. Mbata earned her place in the squad by defeating reigning national champion Blessing Orakwe at the selection trials and will make her Commonwealth Games debut in Glasgow.
The National Sports Commission, under chairman Mallam Shehu Dikko and director general Bukola Olopade, introduced an enhanced athlete welfare package for the Games. Gold medalists stand to earn up to $8,000 in combined rewards, with every athlete and official also receiving N500,000 in travel support.
Olopade addressed the first batch of athletes as they boarded a bus for Glasgow, telling the team that much had been given to them and much was therefore expected, urging the athletes to repay the country’s investment in their preparations with podium finishes.
Sprinter Favour Ashe, who won the men’s 100 meters in 10.06 seconds at the BFTAA Open in Lee Valley, England, ahead of Nicholas Walsh of Great Britain and Ade Adewale, confirmed that camp allowances had been paid in full. Former World and Olympic wrestling champion Daniel Igali echoed that sentiment in an earlier interview.
Nigeria made its Commonwealth Games debut in Auckland in 1950, winning a single silver medal through high jumper Joshua Majekodunmi. The country has since accumulated 271 medals comprising 82 gold, 84 silver, and 105 bronze across its Commonwealth Games history.
The Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games run from July 23 to August 2, featuring about 3,000 athletes from 74 Commonwealth Games Associations competing for 215 gold medals across 11 sports. Scotland hosts the Games for a fourth time. Nigeria’s target of 20 gold medals would set a new national record at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games.
