Despite missing gold medals in some key events, Team Nigeria ended the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games as Africa’s highest-ranked nation on the medals table.

With 10 gold, seven silver and seven bronze medals, Team Nigeria finished sixth in the overall medals table, with South Africa 11th with seven gold medals and Kenya 13th with three gold medals.

The sixth position is Nigeria’s highest finish at the Commonwealth Games in 20 years, despite registering its lowest medals haul since the 2006 Games in Melbourne. It was an improvement on Nigeria’s seventh-place finish at Birmingham 2022, eighth at Glasgow 2014, ninth at both Delhi 2010 and Gold Coast 2018, and 12th at Melbourne 2006.

The improved placing was not because Nigeria won more gold medals than in previous editions, but it reflected the more competitive nature of the medals table.

With medals and gold more evenly distributed among the leading nations, Nigeria’s 10 gold medals proved sufficient to lift the country to sixth overall despite its lower overall medal tally.

Though Team Nigeria had a mixed fortune in the athletics events at Scotstoun Stadium, on Saturday, the nation collected 13 medals made up of three gold, six silver and four bronze, to finish fifth overall behind Australia, Jamaica, England and Canada, while outperforming every other African nation in the medal standings.

Samuel Ogazi won the men’s 400m title before helping Nigeria to bronze in the mixed 4x400m relay.

Ruth Usoro claimed silver in the women’s long jump to become the sixth Nigerian woman to win a Commonwealth Games medal in the event, while the men’s 4x100m got a bronze medal to come within five hundredths of a second of ending the country’s 44-year wait for gold. The 4x100m relay was one of the closest finishes of the championships, with Udodi Onwuzurike anchoring for Team Nigeria. At one point, Nigeria moved to the second position, but Canada eventually won their appeal to push Nigeria to third in the men’s 4x100m relay standings.

Team Nigeria had projected 16 gold medals going to Glasgow, but it finished with 10 gold following a miss by the likes of Tobi Amusan (100m hurdles), Kanyishola Ajayi (100m), 4x400m mixed relays, and some other events.

At the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, Nigeria got 12 gold medals, the highest in the nation’s history of participating in the Commonwealth Games. Then, wrestling alone contributed six of Nigeria’s 12 gold medals.

This time around in Glasgow, the organisers decided to drop wrestling and other events, including table tennis, from the Games.

However, Team Nigeria demonstrated remarkable consistency throughout the competition, breaking several world records.

In Athletics alone, Team Nigeria recorded four first-place finishes, three second places, six third places, two fourth places, two fifth places, one sixth-place finish and two eighth-place finishes, accounting for its 107 points on the placing table.

For Team Nigeria’s Chief de mission to Glasgow, Olympian Yusuf Alli, the performance was not fantastic considering the circumstances that led to the shortfall in gold medals.

“I am satisfied with our overall performance here in Glasgow,” Alli told The Guardian on Sunday at the Athletes’ Maldron Hotel in Glasgow.

“We actually had a projection of 16 gold medals coming to Glasgow, but in sports, anything can happen. We lost the gold medal in women’s 100m hurdles, men’s 100m, 4x400m mixed relay and some other events. Who would have thought Tobi Amusan would miss the gold? That is sports for you. All the same, our athletes did well. I am proud of them, and I thank President Bola Tinubu for believing in the National Sports Commission (NSC). I also commend both the NSC Chairman, Mallam Shehu Dikko and Director General Bukola Olopade for the moral and financial motivation for the athletes and coaches, Alli said.

Australia topped the overall medals table with 65 gold, while England was second with 26 gold. Canada (18 gold), India (13 gold) and host Scotland (13 gold) complete the top five ahead of Nigeria on the overall medals table.