Australia's swimmers won 37 golds among 76 overall medals across six days of racing at Tollcross International Swimming Centre to surpass the Dolphins’ previous Commonwealth Games best haul, at Gold Coast 2018.

Eight years ago, in home water, they finished with 28 titles among 73 medals.

In Glasgow, they also recorded six clean sweeps of the podium.

Kai Taylor got the Aussie gold rush started on the final night with victory in the Men’s 200m Freestyle ahead of Wales' Matt Richards and England's James Guy, who tied for second.

That was followed by clean sweeps in the Women’s 50m Freestyle and Men’s 50m Butterfly before Sam Short clinched his third individual title, in the Men's 1500m Freestyle.

Australia ended the evening with titles in the respective Women’s and Men’s 4x100m Medley Relays to sweep all the relay crowns.

Individual multi-medallists included Lani Pallister - who won three golds and a silver - and Jenna Forrester who clinched a golden treble and a bronze. Short won the Men's 400m, 800m and 1500m Freestyle treble.

Australia also won six titles across the Para Swimming programme.

“We just really love the Commonwealth Games," Short said of his nation's success. "That and the Olympics (is what) Australia seems to live for.

"We’ve just been flogging ourselves in training all year. This is the target. We’ve got Pan Pacs (Pan Pacific Swimming Championships) in a couple of weeks but the general public in Australia don’t really care about that, it’s all Commonwealth Games.

“Representing the Green and Gold is a big honour.”

 

Le Clos top of the tree

South Africa's Chad le Clos also wrote his own unique line in Commonwealth Games history when he became the most successful athlete across any sport.

The 34-year-old swam the Butterfly leg as South Africa claimed bronze behind Australia and England in the Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay. With that, le Clos clinched the 21st medal of his Commonwealth career, across five Games starting at Delhi 2010.

It moved him one clear of fellow swimmer Emma McKeon of Australia, who had been the most-decorated athlete in Games history.

“Looking back on the whole Commonwealth Games journey, from India through to now, I never thought I'd be standing here,” le Clos said.

“To stand alone in history is unbelievable. Four years ago, I needed one more medal, then Emma (McKeon) came past me, and suddenly I needed three more. We just took it one day at a time.”

South Africa finished second in the medal table with six golds among 22 medals, followed by Scotland and England.

Pieter Coetze was key to South Africa’s fine competition and on Wednesday he completed the Men's Backstroke clean sweep by winning the 100m. Back at Gold Coast 2018, Australian Mitch Larkin had become the first man to win the 50m, 100m and 200m Backstroke treble.

“I'm just relieved, I think, mostly," Coetze said.

"I'm very proud of myself and happy to get the job done. It was something I was focused on and believed I could do, so to pull it off is a great feeling."

His time of 51.77 seconds was the second fastest in history, just 0.17s off Italian Thomas Ceccon’s world record. Coetze returned to lead off the Men's 4x100m Medley Relay in 51.71s, another Games record.

Scotland's Angharad Evans added Women's 200m Breaststroke gold to the 100m title she won earlier at Glasgow 2026. Ellie McCartney claimed a fine bronze for Northern Ireland, before compatriot Daniel Wiffen bagged silver in the Men's 1500m Freestyle.

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