Para Sport at the Commonwealth Games
Scottish swimmer Toni Shaw has secured her place on the Scotland team despite facing challenges with a back injury. She regards the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Glasgow as an "absolutely huge" opportunity for the Para sport community.
This year's Games, although shortened, will feature the largest integrated Para sport programme in the history of the Commonwealth Games. A record total of 47 medal events in Para disciplines will take place across six of the ten sports included in the competition.
"There has been so much progress," Shaw, who earned a bronze medal in swimming at the 2020 Paralympics, stated. "I think it is going to have such a knock-on effect everywhere, not just in Scotland.
"I think the para sport community will really grow from having this coverage, so I think it is just incredible."
Inspiration from Past Games
Shaw fondly remembers watching the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow as a spectator.
"When I was in the crowd, it inspired me," she said. "So hopefully other people, if they have a disability, seeing an increased Para sport participation, it might inspire them to take up a sport.
"It is one of the only competitions where the able-bodied and Para sports are done side by side, so the increased coverage and everything about that I think is just amazing."
Attending the Tollcross venue in 2014 was a pivotal moment for Shaw, then aged 10, convincing her that "this is really cool, I want to do this." Now 22 and from Aberdeen, she describes competing at the same event as a "dream come true moment."
Achievements and Challenges
Under normal circumstances, Shaw would be considered one of Team Scotland's leading medal contenders. In addition to her Paralympic bronze, she has amassed an impressive collection of major championship medals, including three world golds, two European golds, and a Commonwealth Games bronze earned in Birmingham four years ago.
However, Shaw acknowledges that a back injury has impacted her ability to aim for the top podium spot this time.
"It has been tough to be honest," she explained. "I had a back injury in 2024 and I have had a steroid injection in it and I have had some treatment for it, so it is doing a lot better, but it is just I haven't been able to get back to the times I was doing before that.
"It has been quite difficult, but to get on the team was my main goal and to have done that I am really proud and really looking forward to the summer.
"I just want to give it everything I have got."
