Duncan Scott will not defend his 400 IM bronze at the 2026 Commonwealth Games. He will instead race the 200 IM, where he is the defending champion and the only entrant in the field under 1:57.00. Alice Tai fits the same entry list that set up that switch.
Scott enters with a season-best of 1:55.51. He won the 200 IM at the April Aquatics GB Championships in 1:56.08, and he was fourth in Singapore last year with a 1:56.32 final.
Scott and Clareburt in Birmingham
The entries released on July 22, 2026, showed Scott moving away from the 400 IM and into the 200 IM, 200 fly and 200 free. In 2022, he won the 200 IM at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham with a Games record of 1:56.88, while Lewis Clareburt won the 400 IM in 4:08.70 and set a Games record of his own.
That same meet left Scott with bronze in the 400 IM and Clareburt third in the 200 IM. Four years later, the same two swimmers return to the events they won, but Scott’s program is narrower.
William Petric leads 200 IM chase
William Petric, the 21-year-old from Melbourne, is the leading challenger to Scott in the 200 IM. Tom Dean and Brendon Smith also return to the field, while Hubert Kos, Tomoyuki Matsushita and Kosuke Makino are ranked ahead of Scott this season but will not be present in Scotland’s largest city.
Scott’s 1:55.51 season-best and his 200 IM record of 1:56.88 from Birmingham leave him as the benchmark for the race. He is also the ninth-fastest performer ever in the event and the fourth-fastest this season.
Matthew Dunn’s repeat mark
The target is a rare one. Matthew Dunn was the last swimmer to win the 200 IM back to back at the Commonwealth Games, doing it in 1994 and 1998. Scott is trying to match that run while leaving the 400 IM behind, and the entry list has already narrowed his path to the 200 IM title defense.
The next issue is simple: whether Petric, Dean or Smith can pressure Scott early enough to stop him from turning a season-best into another Commonwealth Games win.
