Strong Para athlete contingent set for action at Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games 

A total of 12 Para athletes, including five Paralympians, have been selected as part of the NZ Team for the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games (24 July – 3 August), forming a strong contingent of podium contenders. 

Six Para sports feature on the Glasgow 2026 programme: Para athletics, Para bowls, Para cycling, Para powerlifting, Para swimming and Wheelchair Basketball 3×3. New Zealand will be represented in four of those Para sports. 

Since the 2002 Commonwealth Games, Para athletes have competed as fully integrated members of national teams. New Zealand’s best Para medal haul at a Commonwealth Games is four medals, achieved at both Gold Coast 2018 and Birmingham 2022. There is optimism this talented group can surpass that mark in Glasgow. 

Paralympian #195 Anna Grimaldi PLY MNZM is a three-time Paralympic champion, having won long jump T47 gold at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, before adding women’s 200m T47 gold at Paris 2024. The 29-year-old Dunedin-based Para athlete will make her Commonwealth Games debut, competing in the women’s 100m T45-47. A two-time World Para Athletics Championships bronze medallist in the event, Grimaldi will be aiming to add a Commonwealth medal to her impressive résumé. 

Paralympian #238 Josh Willmer first emerged on the international stage by winning gold in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB8 at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. The Auckland-based Para swimmer returns for his second Commonwealth Games after placing fourth in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB8 at the 2025 World Para Swimming Championships. Competing up a classification in Glasgow, Willmer will target a podium finish in the men’s breaststroke SB9 at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre. 

New Zealand’s experienced Para cycling team will look to make its mark at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, with strong medal prospects across several events. Paralympian #222 Nicole Murray PLY, who claimed bronze in the women’s 3000m individual pursuit C5 at Paris 2024, will contest both the women’s 1000m time trial C4-5 and women’s 4000m individual pursuit C4-5 in Glasgow. 

Paralympian #229 Devon Briggs will also arrive in Glasgow full of confidence after winning three medals – one gold and two silver – at the 2025 UCI Para Cycling Track World Championships in Rio. The versatile 22-year-old will compete in the men’s 1000m time trial C1-3 and men’s 3000m individual pursuit C1-3. 

Paralympian #194 Emma Foy, alongside pilot Jessie Hodges, will be another strong medal prospect in the women’s tandem 1000m time trial and women’s tandem sprint. Foy, who won tandem individual pursuit silver and tandem road race bronze at Rio 2016, retired in 2021 before making a successful return to the Para sport last year. She and Hodges claimed silver medals in both the women’s tandem individual pursuit and women’s tandem 1000m time trial at the 2025 UCI Para Cycling Track World Championships in Rio. 

New Zealand’s Para bowls team features six Para athletes. Double Commonwealth Games silver medallist Mark Noble joins Kurt Smith in the men’s pairs B6-8, while Teri Blackbourn and Julie O’Connell contest the women’s pairs B6-8. The pair boast strong credentials after winning gold at the 2023 World Bowls Championships. 

The team is completed by Commonwealth Games debutants Kerrin Wheeler and Sonya Woodrow, who will compete in the mixed pairs B2-3 (vision impaired classification). Wheeler will be directed by his father, Colin, while Woodrow will be guided by Kimberly Carraher. 

When are the Kiwis competing  

***Medal rounds in bold. 

***To follow a detailed schedule of when the New Zealand Para athletes compete go to the NZ Team App.