Ayoola Adeleke
Nigeria’s Esther Nworgu delivered the country’s first gold medal of the 2026 Commonwealth Games with a record-breaking performance in the women’s para powerlifting lightweight event, as veteran teammate Esther Oyema completed a Nigerian one-two with silver, PlatinumNews is reporting
Nworgu, competing off the back of her Paris 2024 Paralympic silver medal, opened with a Commonwealth Games record lift of 118kg for 114.1 points, then improved to 123kg on her second attempt to push her total to a new Games record of 119.0 points — a mark that put gold out of reach for the rest of the field.
Oyema, a 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallist returning to Glasgow twelve years on, finished with 115.5 points to secure silver. England’s Olivia Broome took bronze with 106.6 points off a 119kg lift.
The result gave Nigeria a gold-silver sweep of the event and its first gold medal of the Glasgow 2026 Games — coming shortly after Roland Ezuruike’s silver in the men’s event earlier the same day.