Defending Commonwealth shot put champion Tom Walsh headlines a group of athletes with Christchurch athletics named in the 21-strong New Zealand athletics team for the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Walsh, who trains in Christchurch, is one of five squad members with ties to the city. He is joined by training partner Nick Palmer in the shot put, Christchurch-born hammer thrower Lauren Bruce, Christchurch-based decathlete Max Attwell and University of Canterbury heptathlon student Maddie Wilson.

Walsh is the most decorated male athlete in World Athletics Indoor Championships history with seven medals and is a four-time world indoor champion. He returns to defend the Commonwealth title he won at the Gold Coast in 2018 and retained at Birmingham in 2022, where he and Jacko Gill finished first and second. Glasgow will be his fourth Commonwealth Games.

Palmer trains alongside Walsh in Christchurch and is an eight-time national shot put medallist and a regular 20m-plus thrower. The Hawke’s Bay born athlete will make his Commonwealth Games debut.

Bruce, born in Christchurch, is a five-time national champion, Oceania record holder and two-time Olympian competing in the hammer throw. It will be her second Commonwealth Games.

Attwell, who is based in Christchurch and holds an engineering degree from the University of Canterbury, is a five-time national champion and two-time Oceania champion in the decathlon. He set a personal best of 7822 points in Poland in July 2025, the fifth-best result recorded by a New Zealander in the event. Glasgow marks his Commonwealth Games debut.

Wilson, a civil engineering student at the University of Canterbury, won the national heptathlon title with 6059 points and cleared the Commonwealth Games qualifying standard. She holds the New Zealand under-18 heptathlon record and will also make her debut at the Games.

Beyond the Canterbury group, the team features some of New Zealand’s biggest names in track and field.

Steeplechase world champion Geordie Beamish leads the squad on the track. Beamish overhauled two-time Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali in the final strides to win gold at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, claiming New Zealand’s first world title in a men’s track event. He has also been granted permission to start in the men’s one mile in Glasgow, an event returning to the programme for the first time since 1966.

High jump world, Commonwealth and Olympic champion Hamish Kerr also returns to the team, while sprinter Zoe Hobbs leads the women’s track programme after a recent Diamond League podium in Oslo. Gill joins Walsh and Palmer in the shot put, completing a three-strong New Zealand presence in the event.

The women’s pole vault is one of the deepest groups New Zealand has fielded at a major Games, featuring Birmingham 2022 bronze medallist Imogen Ayris, three-time Olympian Eliza McCartney and Olivia McTaggart.

In the middle distances, Wellington 800m record holder James Preston and two-time Olympian Sam Tanner join the team, with Tanner set to contest the one mile alongside Beamish. Three-time Paralympic gold medallist Anna Grimaldi will make her Commonwealth Games debut in the 100m T47.

Athletics New Zealand chief executive Cam Mitchell said: “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. Glasgow 2026 is going to be an outstanding Games for New Zealand athletics.”

New Zealand Olympic Committee chief executive Nicki Nicol said: “We welcome each of the 21 athletes selected to the New Zealand Team for Glasgow 2026.”

“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.

The athletics programme takes place at the Scotstoun Sports Campus from 27 July to 1 August.

New Zealand athletics team, Glasgow 2026:

Max Attwell (men’s decathlon), Imogen Ayris (women’s pole vault), Anthony Barmes (men’s hammer throw), Geordie Beamish (men’s 3000m steeplechase), Lauren Bruce (women’s hammer throw), Jacko Gill (men’s shot put), Anna Grimaldi (women’s 100m T47), Zoe Hobbs (women’s 100m), Hamish Kerr (men’s high jump), Eliza McCartney (women’s pole vault), Olivia McTaggart (women’s pole vault), Tori Moorby (women’s javelin), Ethan Olivier (men’s triple jump), Nick Palmer (men’s shot put), James Preston (men’s 800m), Nick Southgate (men’s pole vault), James Steyn (men’s pole vault), Briana Stephenson (women’s heptathlon), Sam Tanner (men’s one mile), Tom Walsh (men’s shot put), Maddie Wilson (women’s heptathlon).

Beamish has also been granted permission to start in the men’s one mile.