Wightman and Gourley to target Commonwealth Mile title at Glasgow 2026
World medallists Jake Wightman and Neil Gourley will spearhead Scotland’s bid to top the podium in the first ‘Commonwealth Mile’ event this century, when the event makes a long-awaited return to the programme at Glasgow 2026.
The pair, together with 10,000m specialist Megan Keith, are the first athletes to be selected for the host nation of next year’s Commonwealth Games, which will take place from 23 July to 2 August.
All three achieved nomination and ultimately selection for Scotland’s Glasgow 2026 squad, following strong performances at the Tokyo 2025 World Athletics Championships.
While Wightman, who claimed silver in Japan this summer, and fellow finalist Gourley are traditionally 1500m runners, but the pair will switch to the Mile in order to be able to compete at their home Games.
The distance, made famous by the ‘Miracle Mile’ battle between England’s Roger Bannister and John Landy of Australia at the 1954 Games in Vancouver, Canada, was last contested at the 1966 edition in Kingston, Jamaica and now replaces the 1500m discipline.
“To be the first athletes selected in what is going to be a huge team is pretty cool,” said Wightman, who will be competing at his fourth Commonwealth Games, following a debut at Glasgow 2014.
“The Mile is a classic old-school distance, but I think the main thing is the most people can relate to the mile a bit more and it makes more sense to the average person coming to watch in a way that the 1500m perhaps doesn’t.
The two-time Commonwealth bronze medallists continues; “It’s cool that you can be the first champion of the Mile in this era and I hope I can get out there and do my best for Scotland and get on that podium.”
Gourley will be competing in his second Commonwealth Games, following Birmingham 2022, but this selection is particularly meaningful to the Glaswegian who missed the 2024 World Indoor Championships, in his home city, due to injury.
“It means a lot more than it probably has done before,” said the 2025 World Indoor silver medallists. “There’s been two occasions where I’ve been selected to compete in Glasgow, only to taken out by illness and the other by injury.
“Both were devastating in their own ways, so I’m going to have to put that right this time.
Gourley continues; “I’m incredibly proud that I’ll get to represent Scotland in my home city, I might not get the opportunity again, so this is a special one.”
Keith was a World Junior champion in the sport of orienteering before switching to athletics and won three consecutive individual medals across U20 and U23 level at the European Cross Country Championships.
The 23-year-old then won 5,000m gold at the U23 European Championships on the track, before European senior 10,000m bronze in June last year earned her a late call-up for the Team GB Olympic Games squad.
An ankle injury denied her the opportunity to demonstrate her full potential in Paris, but a top-10 finish at this year’s World Championships secured her a place at Glasgow 2026.
“Competing for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games is going to be very special,” said Keith, who missed out on tickets to Glasgow 2014.
“It’s not something I ever dreamed about competing at myself, but for me the Commonwealth Games is always so much cooler than the Olympics or other events because everyone is competing in their Scotland vests.”
By Nick Hope, Glasgow 2026 Content Creator
