Gold Finale for Dolphins in Glasgow with record Comm Games haul

IT was a medal table for the history books.

The Dolphins amassed a collection of 76 medals – 37 gold, 16 silver and 23 bronze at Tollcross Stadium to finish the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games as the best ever Australian Commonwealth Games Swim Team.

A gold in the men’s 4x100m medley relay team made it eight gold from eight starts for the green and gold relay teams with the record haul surpassing the previous mark from Gold Coast in 2018 (28 gold; 21 silver; 24 bronze).

In all, the Dolphins leave Scotland not just with medals but with 11 Games records, 18 individual personal bests, the emergence of 15 rookies on the international stage and statement swims from sprinter Meg Harris, stalwart Tim Hodge and distance stars Sam Short and Lani Pallister.

Breaststroker Sam Williamson also confirmed his comeback from a harrowing knee injury while veteran Shayna Jack signed off on her decade-long career arm-in-arm with emerging sprint star, brother Jamie and a bronze medal in her last international swim.

Alex Perkins redefined herself with five gold medals and a silver, Jenna Forrester dazzled with three gold and a bronze and Jenna Jones scooped up 100m freestyle S13 gold and 50m freestyle S13 bronze.

Dolphins head coaches Mel Tantrum and Rohan Taylor said the “successful” campaign featured numerous highlights including: teen queen Sienna Toohey’s senior transformation from potential to performance, Iona Anderson’s gold in front of her Scottish grandmother and the international return of Kirralee Hayes and consistency of Jenna Jones.

Tantrum said: “We have 15 from the para program who will back up and head to the Para Pan Pacific Championships in the US in three weeks’ time and we have never really done the triple peak: Trials to Games to Pan Pacs and they’re job now is to maintain focus and balance training with recovery.”

Taylor added: “Everything we do is to prepare for LA in 2028 and there’s a lot of great takeaways and more to come as we head towards Pan Pacs.”

“The progression of Iona Anderson, Flynn Southam, Jenna Forrester and we all know that Cam McEvoy is going to go away and process his learnings.

“Now we set ourselves for another campaign, the Pan Pacific Championships and we will and apply our learnings in LA. The Americans are going to be as tough as nails on home soil, we’re two years out and there is still plenty of growth in this team.

“We met as a team after the last night and there have been a couple of changes. Mollie O’Callaghan, who won four gold and a silver, has been managing a back injury and we will be without her in California.

“She made the decision to return home rather than add another campaign with significant travel. As I said, our lens is on LA and less is more right now for Mollie.”

O’Callaghan added: “I am really happy with my campaign and to have a swim with the 4x100m medley girls was the perfect way to finish my second Commonwealth Games campaign.”

“I always knew my program was going to be different, and I would reassess at the end of the Games and my injury is exactly where I thought it would be. And the time is right for me to go home. Good luck to all my teammates in California.”

The Dolphins have also added Matt Temple to the team that leaves for California in less than 12 hours time after the premier butterflyer added three gold, a silver and bronze to his pool room.