Mirabai Chanu Wins Historic Third Straight Commonwealth Games Gold, Delivers India's First Gold at CWG 2026

India's First CWG 2026 Gold: In Sunday's game, Olympic winner Mirabai Chanu created history as she clinched her third consecutive gold medal in the Commonwealth Games. She won her event with a total lift of 190 kg in the women's 48 kg category. After clinching her gold medal, tears of happiness welled up in her eyes during the victory ceremony. She thanked her family for supporting her consistently and said that she wanted to use only a portion of her strength, but failing her first lift, she had to give it her all.

The 2018, 2022, and now 2026 Commonwealth Games gold medalist said, "Right from the start, there are many things we need to work hard on and stay focused on - whether it's the Games or a championship - on how we want to perform and how to maintain that performance. We weren't going to try so hard in these Games, but my first attempt failed due to my own mistake."

Mirabai Chanu creates HISTORY!
She wins her third consecutive Commonwealth Games gold medal and powers India to its first gold at CWG 2026. pic.twitter.com/0TD4GouqHD

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— Kailash Vashi (@KailashVashi) July 26, 2026

Mirabai Chanu further said, "After that, we thought we had to go all out. We also had to look at what was happening in training and what aspects still needed improvement. This performance is very important for me because I've been controlling my body weight for a long time." It has been extremely difficult for me to bring my weight down to the 48 kg category."

The 31-year-old weightlifter failed her first attempt at the 82 kg snatch, but Mirabai managed to lift that weight in her second attempt and then 85 kg in her final attempt, setting a new record for the snatch at the Commonwealth Games.

She then lifted eight kg more than the other weightlifters in the clean and jerk. Although she couldn't lift the bar in her first attempt, the Indian star made up for it by lifting 105 kg in her second attempt and easily won the gold medal. Mirabai thus became the first Indian athlete to win a gold medal at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games. She had previously won gold medals at the Gold Coast 2018 and Birmingham 2022 Games.

When the Indian national anthem was played on the podium, Chanu couldn't hold back her tears. She said, "When our national anthem is sung, when we hear it, automatically we feel a surge of joy. Tears come. These are tears of joy because I won the first gold medal for India." Silver medallist Ruth Asukuo Nyong'o of Nigeria finished second with a total lift of 168 kg (75 snatch and 93 clean and jerk), while Malaysia's Irene Henry won the bronze medal with a total lift of 167 kg (77 snatch and 90 clean and jerk).