For Indian sport, few names represent consistency, resilience and excellence quite like Mirabai Chanu. At the ongoing 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the celebrated weightlifter added another landmark chapter to her remarkable career by winning her third consecutive Commonwealth Games gold medal, extending her dominance on the biggest stage of the Commonwealth sporting calendar.
Competing in the women’s 48kg category, Chanu produced a commanding performance to win India’s first gold medal of the 2026 Commonwealth Games. She lifted 85kg in the snatch and 105kg in the clean and jerk, finishing with a total of 190kg. Her performance also saw her set new Commonwealth Games record, underlining the gap between her and the rest of the field in the games. She finished 22kg ahead of silver medallist Ruth Asuquo Nyong of Nigeria.
The latest triumph completes a golden hat-trick for Chanu at the Commonwealth Games. Her journey began with a silver medal at Glasgow 2014, before she transformed that disappointment into gold at Gold Coast 2018. She successfully defended her title at Birmingham 2022 and has now completed a historic three-peat in Glasgow in 2026.
Chanu’s legacy extends far beyond her Commonwealth dominance. The Manipuri athlete has become one of India’s most celebrated athletes, winning the 2017 World Championships and an Olympic silver medal at Tokyo 2020. Her career has also included difficult moments, including the heartbreak of failing to register a valid lift at the Rio 2016 Olympics. Yet, rather than defining her career, setbacks have strengthened the image of an athlete who repeatedly finds a way to come back stronger.
Her latest Commonwealth gold is therefore more than another medal. It is a testament to longevity at the highest level of elite sport. At an age when many athletes begin to step away from the pressures of international competition, Chanu continues to compete, adapt, and continues to win.
Her journey from Manipur to the Olympic podium and now to three successive Commonwealth Games gold medals has made her an inspiration for a generation of Indian athletes. Mirabai Chanu’s story is ultimately about much more than the weight she lifts. It is about the strength required to overcome failure, the discipline needed to remain at the top and the determination to keep raising the bar.
With her third consecutive Commonwealth Games gold, Mirabai Chanu has once again demonstrated why she is regarded as one of the finest athletes India has ever produced, and why her name has become synonymous with Indian weightlifting excellence.
