Few Indian athletes have built a Commonwealth Games legacy as consistent as Mirabai Chanu’s. Twelve years after her first appearance, she remains the benchmark in her weight category.
Glasgow 2014: an early silver
Chanu’s Commonwealth Games career began with silver in the 48kg category, an early sign of the talent that would eventually make her an Olympic medallist and multiple World Championship medallist.
Gold Coast 2018 and Birmingham 2022: back-to-back golds
She turned that promise into gold at Gold Coast 2018, lifting a then Games-record 196kg (86kg snatch, 110kg clean and jerk). Moving up to the 49kg category for Birmingham 2022, she defended her title with an even more dominant total of 201kg, finishing 29kg clear of her nearest rival.
Glasgow 2026: a historic hat-trick
Back in the 48kg category for Glasgow 2026, Chanu opened with a scare, failing her first snatch attempt at 82kg. She recovered immediately, clearing 82kg on her second attempt and a Games-record 85kg on her third. In the clean and jerk, she again missed her opening lift before successfully lifting 105kg – another Games record – for a winning total of 190kg, 22kg clear of the field.
The result made her the first Indian weightlifter to win three consecutive Commonwealth Games gold medals, and her fourth CWG medal overall. It also gave India its first gold of the 2026 Games, kick-starting a campaign that would go on to include a record boxing haul and finish with India in fourth on the final medal table.
Now 31, Chanu has said she intends to defend her title again at the next Games – which happen to be in her own country, in Ahmedabad in 2030. For more on that event, see our guide to the next Commonwealth Games host city and dates. Should she compete and win again, it would extend an already unmatched Commonwealth Games legacy for Indian weightlifting.