The Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games get underway in earnest today (Friday 24 July) but our cyclists will have to wait a few more days until they take centre stage on the boards of the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.
Last night Neil Fachie was the final baton bearer in the King’s Baton Relay, ending it’s 500 day journey across the 74 nations of the Commonwealth, to deliver the message to King Charles III.
Whilst our track riders put the finishing touches to their training at a preparation camp in Derby, we’ve pulled together a handy guide that details who’s in action each day, and how to keep up to date.
First up, how can you watch.
Every moment of the Commonwealth Games are available on HBO Max, however this includes the cheaper tier of subscription – which are available from £5.99 per month. If you have a Sky subscription you have access to this for free. BBC Alba will be showing live coverage every evening from 17:30 – with four hours of live coverage available free-to-air.
Channel 5 will show nightly highlights from 22:30, and Team Scotland and Scottish Cycling on social media will be with the athletes every step of the way.
Thursday 30 July
Our Men’s Team Pursuit squad will have the honour of being the first Scottish cyclists to compete at the 23rd Commonwealth Games when they line up in qualification at just after 11am.
From there we’ll see Lauren Bell, Iona Moir and Maddy Silcock combine in the opening round of the Women’s Team Sprint, before their male counterparts Lyall Craig, Niall Monks and Pete Mitchell follow suit.
The evening session brings four medal opportunities, subject to qualification in the morning, and they will be the three events previously mentioned, plus the Men’s Tandem B Kilo final, where Neil Fachie OBE will chase his seventh Commonwealth Games medal, his collection already boasting double gold from both Glasgow 2014 and Gold Coast 2018, as well as gold and silver in Birmingham four years ago. This time around he’ll be piloted by Aaron Pope.
Friday 31 July
Friday sees 14 of the 19 Team Scotland riders in action, an extremely busy day that carries plenty of medal potential. The morning session is kicked off at 10am with Lauren Bell, Iona Moir and Ellie Stone going in the Women’s Sprint, before Erin Boothman tackles the Women’s Individual Pursuit qualifying round. We’ll then see the first bunch race action, with Mark Stewart, Elliot Rowe and Lewis Askey lining up in Elimination Race qualifying, whilst fellow endurance riders Michael Gill and Tim Shoreman, like Boothman, are in IP action. The ‘morning’ session concludes just before 3pm, with Erin back up on track for Scratch Race qualification alongside Kate Richardson and Neah Evans.
Just a mere hour later the evening session kicks off with our men’s sprint trio of Craig, Monks and Mitchell going in the Keirin, before the first medals of the day will be awarded in the Women’s IP. The final Scot to get his Glasgow 2026 campaign underway will be Fin Graham – remarkably he will don a Scottish skinsuit for the very first time and chase his first Commonwealth Games medal.
Further medal opportunities could come through the finals of the Women’s Scratch, Men’s IP, Women’s Sprint, Men’s Keirin and Men’s Elimination Race, which all conclude on Friday night.
Saturday 1 August
The first event on Saturday marks the halfway in the track cycling programme, with the morning dominated by the Men’s Sprints. First up are Craig, Monks and Mitchell, before Fachie and Pope go in the Tandem equivalent.
Just before noon Stewart, Askey and Logan Maclean are in Scratch Race qualifying action, with the various rounds of the sprints punctuating proceedings before our female endurance trio of Boothman, Evans and Richardson go in the Women’s Points Race qualifier.
The Men’s Tandem Sprint medal rides get the afternoon session underway, with high hopes for Fachie, before the Women’s Points Race final at 15.55. The Women’s Kilo medals will be decided between 16.30 and 17.30, with Lauren Bell, Maddy Silcock and Ellie Stone the chosen riders for that event. The session will conclude with both the Men’s and Women’s Sprint medal rides, as well as the Men’s Scratch final.
Sunday 2 August
The final day brings plenty more opportunities for our cyclists to end the Games on a high, starting the Women’s Elimination Race at 9am – the final for that one of course in the afternoon session. Next up is the Women’s Keirin, featuring Lauren Bell, Iona Moir and Ellie Stone, before the Men’s Points Race, which features 2018 champion Mark Stewart, as well as Elliot Rowe and Logan Maclean. Fin Graham goes in the C1-C3 Individual Pursuit qualifier between 10.40 and 11.30, before our first medals of the day will be awarded in the Men’s Kilo. Lining up for Scotland in that one are Niall Monks, Michael Gill and Tim Shoreman.
The afternoon session kicks off slightly earlier at 3pm, where we will hope to have Erin Boothman, Neah Evans and Kate Richardson vying for medals in the Women’s Elimination final. It’s then Fin Graham time once again, before the Women’s Keirin and Men’s Points Race bring the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games cycling programme to a close.