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Australia’s most experienced major competition Para powerlifter, Ben Wright, has already achieved his goal of leaving the sport in a stronger position than when he started.
His priority now is defending – or improving on – the breakthrough medal he won, but didn’t receive, at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022.
Wright was one of six lifters announced by Commonwealth Games Australia on Friday to represent the nation at the Games in Glasgow, which starts on July 23.
It is Australia’s largest Para powerlifting team to compete at the Commonwealth Games and continues the sport’s rapid re-birth domestically, supercharged by the Federal Government’s LA2028+ High Performance funding, support from Commonwealth Games Australia and Paralympics Australia’s administration of the sport through Para Powerlifting Australia.
“My first (Commonwealth) Games was 2014 in Glasgow, so a return to Glasgow makes it extra special,” Wright said after the team was named.
“If I’ve got my info correct, I’m the only Australian powerlifter to compete at four Games. I am currently the reigning bronze medallist and I’d like to either defend that or hopefully go one or two better.”
Joining Wright will be fellow Paris 2024 Paralympian Hani Watson, who also won a bronze medal at Birmingham, together with Wright breaking Australia’s 16-year Games medal drought in the sport. Wright and Watson will compete in the men’s and women’s heavyweight classes, respectively.
The team also features Games debutant and rising star Daniel Bos in the men’s lightweight and Bos’s fellow 2025 World Championships representatives Natasha Price (women’s lightweight) and Jade Pritchard (women’s lightweight). Cameron Whittington (men’s heavyweight) is set to make a remarkable return to Commonwealth Games competition after representing Australia at Delhi 2010.
Glasgow 2026 Chef de Mission Petria Thomas said: “Selection to a Commonwealth Games team is an incredible achievement and these athletes should be immensely proud of the work they’ve put in to earn their place.
“Para powerlifting is a sport that showcases extraordinary strength and resilience. I’m excited to see this group represent Australia with pride in Glasgow and inspire Australians back home.”
Wright said one of his motivations had long been “to leave the program better than I found it”.
“To see the people that stuck around have to fight tooth and nail, and then getting to see the next generation come through and get the support they need is fantastic,” he said.
“That’s exactly what I want to be seeing towards the end of my career – knowing that once I’m gone, the sport in Australia and the program is well looked after.”
But he has plenty of unfinished business, starting with returning to the competition in which he won bronze after being elevated when a competitor who had finished above him was disqualified due to an anti-doping violation.
“It was a very surreal experience, especially the way I found out as well,” he said.
“I got a DM on Instagram from Micky Yule, who was the bronze medallist on the podium. The DM basically said, ‘Congratulations on your bronze medal. You should have a chat to your people’.
“After rushing around and doing some phone calls and then getting confirmation, I basically spent the rest of the day just dumbfounded, not really believing it.
“WAIS (Western Australian Institute of Sport) put on a fantastic event over here in WA and presented me with my medal at their WAIS awards. That was very nice and very special.
“I was able to have family members there to watch me receive it, which wouldn’t have happened had I received it at the Games. I’m very keen to get that podium experience this time.”
To do so, Wright believes he’ll need to lift around 200 kilograms, which would be a personal best, eclipsing his 192-kilogram best lift at Paris 2024. Commonwealth Games competition is not by individual weight classes, but rather lightweight and heavyweight, with a bodyweight coefficient used to decide placings.
“At the bodyweight that I’m looking to be in Glasgow, it’ll be looking like a 200-plus lift to get on the podium,” he said.
“Last year I had a bit of a problem with general health stuff, so I took a bit of a backtrack. But I then spent the second half of last year building back up and have continued to do that. I’m looking for career personal bests in Glasgow – those are the numbers I’m looking at.
“I’ve got three months of knuckling down, focusing, doing all the one percenters that lead towards a really good performance.”
Australia’s Para powerlifting team for Glasgow 2026
Daniel Bos – men’s lightweight – Debut
Natasha Price – women’s lightweight – Debut
Jade Pritchard – women’s lightweight– Debut
Hani Watson – women’s heavyweight – Birmingham 2022 – bronze medal
Cameron Whittington – men’s heavyweight – Delhi 2010 – 16th
Ben Wright – men’s heavyweight – Birmingham 2022 – bronze medal, Gold Coast 2018 – 6th, Glasgow 2014 – 10th
By David Sygall, Paralympics Australia.
Published 24 April, 2026.
