Glasgow throws open The Hydro for a Commonwealth homecoming

For a city that has hosted these Games before, the Opening Ceremony of the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games traded the traditional athletes’ march for a story unfolding across a single Glasgow day, as the Games returned to the city that helped shape their modern identity.

Nina Kennedy OAM led the Australian Team into the Hydro carrying the flag, the defending Commonwealth pole vault champion becoming just the 24th Australian handed the honour. 

Alongside her, Birmingham 2022 gold medallist and New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder Tim Hodge OAM carried Australia’s Baton into the stadium, stepping into a role introduced for these Games to bring the King’s Baton in alongside the flag.

“It was amazing, it’s almost incomparable,” said Hodge.

“The Scots put on an awesome performance and to be able to walk into that stadium holding the Baton high leading the Australian team; it was just amazing, I can’t think of enough superlatives for it.”

Australia’s Baton was one of 74 carried into the arena and planted in a living garden at the centre of the stage. Handcrafted from sustainably sourced Scottish ash and engraved with a single word from the King’s Message, it joined the other nations’ batons, each taking root alongside the next until the Saltire-shaped walkway became a shared Commonwealth artwork.

The Ceremony opened on screen rather than on stage, with a TARDIS materialising at landmarks across Scotland before delivering the Head of the Commonwealth into the garden itself. 

From there, the story unfolded over a single day in Glasgow’s life, opening with the city’s dawn routine and building to a flash mob beneath a recreation of the Glasgow Central clock, the meeting point generations of Glaswegians know simply as ‘under the clock’.

Three ordinary Glaswegians, dubbed the Guides throughout the production, carried the audience through that day. Each represented a different form of courage: one to imagine, one to care, one to act. It was a device built from nine community workshops held across the city, with organisers drawing on more than 1,000 real Glasgow voices and stories to shape what reached the stage.

The night had its lighter moments too. Loch Ness’ most famous resident rose from the water to greet Outlander star Sam Heughan, called out by a chorus of Pipers, while a giant Teacake, the chocolate-and-marshmallow snack that has become a piece of Scottish shorthand, closed the show in a burst of pyrotechnics.

For Kennedy, walking out with the flag came after a season already built on a title defence and an Australian record.

“I was actually really nervous, us athletes set ourselves to a higher standard, so I wanted to wave the flag the best.”

His Majesty The King Charles III received the final Baton from Scottish basketball player Kieron Achara MBE before declaring the Games officially open, the signal for a closing set from Nathan Evans, KT Tunstall and Tom Walker that carried the 190-strong cast and community performers back onto the stage for one last number.

Competition is already underway in Scotland after a strong start from the Australian bowls athletes with more sports joining them on the field of play tomorrow Friday 24 July. 

Catch all the action live and free on Channel 7 and 7plus.