The next generation of Australian sprinters have shone in Glasgow today, winning gold in the Men’s Team Sprint at the 2026 Commonwealth Games early this morning.
After the departure of Matthew Glaetzer (to retirement), Matthew Richardson (to England) and Tom Cornish (to Australia’s endurance squad), only Leigh Hoffman remained from the teams that won Commonwealth gold in Birmingham and Olympic bronze in Paris.
Hoffman (26), from South Australia, was joined by Queensland’s Ryan Elliott (22) and Dubbo’s Danny Barber (23) to form a youthful team sprint squad eager to prove their abilities.
Elliott leads Hoffman and Barber in qualifying.
Of course, this was not the trio’s first outing on a big stage: they won bronze at last year’s World Championships. However, as the pre-race favourites in Glasgow, this was a chance to prove themselves again.
“There was a big change in roster after Paris,” Elliott told journalists after the race. “And everyone's question then is, ‘How well can the system back up? What's their depth?
“And certainly us as the younger guys kind of come through and we wanted to prove that we have depth in Australia’, and we’re here, and were hungry.’”
With Elliott as the starter, Hoffman in position two, and Barber bringing home the final lap, Australia qualified fastest in 42.754 – but only four-hundredths of a second ahead of England.
It came down to the gold medal final, where the trio improved to 42.455 and a comfortable victory over England by over half a second.
Danny Barber celebrates the victory.
Barber was satisfied with how the team picked up the pace between the two rounds.
“Coming from the qualifying, where we kind of knew there was a bit to find – find in myself at least – to kind of execute that in that second round, it was pretty pleasing.
“To look up at the scoreboard, knowing that I contributed to these boys and how well they set me up to be able to execute for them. It was a good feeling.”
Today’s result means Australia – and Hoffman – successfully defends the gold medal won at Birmingham 2022.
(Left to right) Hoffman, Elliott and Barber secured the top step in Glasgow.
Attention for the squad now turns to the individual sprint and keirin events, where, despite the absence of teammate-turned-rival Matthew Richardson due to injury, the Aussies are wary of the talent in the field.
“I would have loved for him [Richardson] to come here and race and see how we stack up, and Danny as well, racing sprint, how we stack up against him,” Hoffman said. I'm upset he's not here, but that's what it is.
“And I think there's still some dangerous hitters out here like Azizul Awang, he's won both keirins [in the UCI World Cup this year]. Nicholas Paul as well; the Commonwealth countries in track cycling are very strong. So, I've got plenty of other fish to worry about.”
In other results, Australia finished fourth in the women’s team sprint with Molly McGill, Kristina Clonan and Alessia McCaig.
Photos: SWpix.com