What to know
- The Commonwealth Games will take place in Glasgow, Scotland from July 23 to Aug. 2
- One hundred and forty-nine athletes will compete for Team Canada, and a handful of them are from Toronto.
- Some of the Torontonians at the games include track star Andre De Grasse, swimmer Josh Liendo, and wheelchair basketball player Puisand Lai.
The 2026 Commonwealth Games have arrived and Canada has brought an all-star team to the festivities, including a handful of Torontonians in the mix.
From July 23 through to Aug. 2, 149 Canadian athletes will be competing in 10 sports for a total of 215 medals.
Held in Glasgow, Scotland, The Commonwealth Games are known as “The Friendly Games” and brings together athletes from 74 countries and territories in the Commonwealth of Nations.
Unlike the Olympics, able-bodied and paralympic athletes will both be competing in the same games. There will be 47 medals awarded in 6 paralympic disciplines.
There will be a strong Toronto presence at these games, from swimmer Josh Liendo to wheelchair basketball player Puisand Lai.
Here are 5 Toronto athletes who are representing Canada at the 2026 Commonwealth Games:
Andre De Grasse
Andrew De Grasse is practically a household name in elite track and field. The Markham-born runner has competed in three consecutive summer Olympic Games – Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020, and Paris 2024 – and has walked away with two gold medals, two silver, and three bronze. He ties swimmer Penny Oleksiak as the most decorated Canadian Olympian.
Josh Liendo
Josh Liendo is a young swimming powerhouse from Toronto who won a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. At only 23 years old, Liendo is already a five-time World Aquatics Championships medalist and the first Black swimmer from Canada to win both a gold medal and an individual medal at a major international championship. Due to his impressive resume, he has been named a swimming captain at these 2026 games – one of four.
Gabriela DeBues-Stafford
Gabriela DeBues-Stafford is a middle and long-distance runner who grew up in Toronto and currently holds six Canadian national records in the 1500m, mile, 3000m, and 5000m. She has competed in the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics and achieved fifth place in the 1500m finals — Canada’s second-best result in the event.
Puisand Lai
Puisand Lai is a Toronto-based wheel-chair basketball wizard who represented Canada at both the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. In 2018, at only 17 years old, Lai was named to the Canadian national team. When she’s not competing, Lai works as an engineer.
Katie Cosgriffe
Katie Cosgriffe is one of the younger athletes representing Canada at the 2026 Commonwealth Games. Born in Toronto, Cosgriffe competed in the 2024 Paralympics, where she won a bronze medal for the 100m butterfly swim. Initially an able-bodied swimmer, she switched to paralympic swimming after being diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, which affects peripheral nerves in the body.
