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25/06/2026 00:00, In Blog /

Newly announced Glasgow Commonwealth Games team members, medallists from last weekend’s UK Athletics Championships and some of Britian’s finest Under-18 prospects will be heading for Cardiff this weekend.

The 108^th Welsh Senior and Under-18 Track and Field Championships, which also incorporate the Great Britain trial for the European Under-18 Athletics Championships, have attracted a bumper entry of 700 athletes.

Among the star Welsh names currently due to compete across Saturday and Sunday at the Cardiff International Sports Centre, are some of the athletes who will be representing Wales at the Commonwealth Games.

There will also be plenty of names who have competed at past games and promising youngsters to have their eyes on the GB team for the European Under-18 Championships being held in Italy next month.

The throws are particularly peppered with athletes who will be donning the red vest Scotland last this summer.

The para male ambulant discus competition boasts two members of the team in the shape of legendary F42 para star Aled Davies (Cardiff Athletics) and F44 man Harrison Walsh (Swansea Harriers), who like Davies has medalled at the Commonwealths.

The open men’s discus features another brace of Welsh throwers, who have excelled in the GB vest – James Tomlinson (Birchfield Harriers) and Welsh Athletics Transition Programme athlete Michael Jenkins (Swansea Harriers).

Two more Glasgow team members contest the para female ambulant discus, where Cardiff Athletics F44 duo Bree Cronin and Funmi Oduwaiye are scheduled to compete following their exploits at last weekend’s UK Champs.

The open event features up-and-coming talents Cerys Aboagye (Croydon Harriers), Storm Evans and Dolly Evans (Carmarthen Harriers), and Lucy Harris (Swansea Harriers) who placed eighth at the UK Champs.

The seated women’s shot put and seated discus, will feature the youngest athlete in the Welsh Commonwealth Games team.

Seventeen-year-old Ellie Mai Bowen (Cardiff Archers) has been in excellent form in the throwing events since switching from wheelchair racing and is looking forward to making her senior Wales debut in Glasgow.

Meanwhile, the women’s shot put features one of Wales’ most established and highest profile female sports stars – Adele Nicoll (Birchfield Harriers).

Three-time British shot put champion Nicoll has already represented Great Britain in the bobsleigh at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics this year and will continue her transition back to athletics ahead of the Commies.

Nicoll will be joined in the circle on Sunday by Sabrina Fortune (Deeside AAC) who has won pretty much everything there is to win in global para athletics and holds the F20 world record. Also lining up will be the aforementioned Cerys Aboagye and Storm Evans along with Rebekah Pratt (Swansea Harriers).

Another instantly recognisable Welsh sportswoman goes in the women’s long jump on Saturday. Olivia Breen’s smile after winning 100m gold at the last Commonwealths in Birmingham was one of the enduring images of the games and she will be keen to similarly light up this year’s event.

The City of Portsmouth athlete is joined on the runway this weekend by a number of other talented Welsh athletes. The include multi-eventers Lauryn Davey and Matilda Quick (Swansea Harriers), Transition Programme jumper Jessica Lee (Thames Valley Harriers) Amy Hughes (Cardiff Archers), who boasts the longest Welsh jump this year, Stephanie Jones (Sale Harriers Manchester) an Emily Thomas (Cardiff Archers).

Sunday’s men’s pole vault, features fiercely patriotic pole vaulter Tom Walley (Wrexham AC) who described his Glasgow selection as

“an absolute honour and privilege for me and my family”.

Walley is in good form having won a silver medal at last weekend’s UK Champs. However, the 28-year-old won’t have things all his own way as the competition also features Mark Mellor (Cardiff Athletics), whose personal best is only a couple of centimetres short of Walley’s, and his brother Mark Mellor (Cardiff Archers).

Walley is joined at this week’s championships by a number of other Welsh athletes who medalled in Birmingham last weekend.

Among them are racewalker Bethan Davies (Cardiff Athletics), who added yet another UK title to her impressive collection in the 5,000m and Guy Thomas (Tonbridge Athletic Club) who circled the Alexander Stadium track for silver in the men’s event.

Transition programme high jumper Hannah Lake (Cardiff Athletics), who took silver in Birmingham, also lines-up at Leckwith where she will once again face Lili Church (Carmarthenshire Harriers) who was sixth in last weekend’s final.

Pat Swan (Cornwall AC) will be the red hot favourite to add the Welsh senior men’s shot put title to the UK silver medal he won last weekend.

As well as the athletes who will represent Wales at this year’s Commonwealths, there are athletes who have competed for Wales with distinction at previous games.

They include Swansea Harriers sprint siblings Joe and Hannah Brier who are both doubling up over the weekend.

Transition Programme athlete Hannah, who holds the Welsh records over 100 and 200 metres will be aiming for a golden double of those distances at the weekend.

However, she will face stern competition in the 100m where fellow GB international Nell Desir (Cardiff Archers) is on the start-lists along with fellow NDP sprinter Jessica Mantle (Cardiff Archers) fresh from her UK Champs semi-final spot.

There will also be plenty of up-and-coming Welsh talent in the 200m including Isabella Wigley (Cardiff Archers) and Eli Jones (Menai Track and Field).

Olympian and global relay medallist Joe Brier is scheduled to run both 200 and 400m.

Over the one lap distance, Brier will face the likes of Under-23 talent Jacob Winter (Dudley and Stourbridge Harriers), while lining up in the men’s 200 will be Alex Azu (Cardiff Athletics), who reached the UK 200m final and Eli Onyewu (Swansea Harriers) who contested the 100m heats in Birmingham. Transition Programme sprinter Aron Tugwell (Cardiff Athletics) is also on the start-lists.

Azu and Onyewu will also take their places in what looks likely to be a hotly contested men’s 100m.

Also taking to the blocks will be the likes of Cardiff Athletics pair Sam Gordon and Dewi Hammond, who alongside Azu, reached the semi-finals of the UK Champs. Transition Programme sprinter Lewis Stephens (Cardiff Athletics) is also entered.

There will be particular interest in the Under-18 events at this year’s championships as they feature the trials for the Great Britain team selection ahead of the European Under-18 Athletics Championships which take place in Rieti, from July 16 to 19.

The trials have attracted the top under-18 talent from around the UK and there are a number of young Welsh athletes who will be hoping to book seats on the plane to Italy.

Among those who could be challenging for a GB vest is brilliant young NDP sprinter Aliyah Afolabi (Cardiff Archers).

Afolabi has already run faster than the 200m qualifying standard this season and is ranked number two in her age group throughout the UK.

A top two place at the weekend will secure automatic selection. But Afolabi will face competition from a number of other athletes including Shaiya Kenion (Coventry Godiva Harriers), who is the fastest in the UK this year.

Meanwhile, another young NDP sprinter, Finnley Roynon (Cwmbran Harriers) has the 10.60 qualifying standard for the 100m and is ranked fifth fastest in the UK. Roynon will also contest the 200m where his best is just outside the standard.

In the throws, NDP athlete Gethin Brown (Deeside AAC) last weekend threw the hammer qualifying standard when he celebrated a new Welsh age group record of 69.09m. Brown was already the top ranked thrower in the UK before that performance.

A number of other Welsh athletes are within touching distance of the qualifying standards and hope to be challenging for those GB places.

Of course, the Under-18 events aren’t all about Euro qualification. Wales’ best young talent will be aiming for national titles, medals and individual best performances.

Saturday and Sunday’s action starts at 11am at the Cardiff International Sports Campus.

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