After years of setbacks, surgeries and near misses, long jumper Liam Adcock, who grew up competing at Redcliffe Little Athletics and attended Redcliffe State High School, has earned his first Commonwealth Games selection, securing a place in Australia’s team for Glasgow 2026 following the best season of his career.
The selection marks his first Commonwealth Games call-up, arriving 12 years after he first took up long jump and eight years after narrowly missing out on the 2018 squad.
The 29-year-old heads to Glasgow as one of Australia’s most credentialled squad members. He returns from a breakout 2025 season where he secured bronze at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, won the Rome Diamond League meeting with a personal best of 8.34 metres, and finished the year ranked fifth in the world.
A Redcliffe story that started in a backyard
Adcock was born in Paddington, New South Wales, but grew up in Redcliffe, attending Scarborough State School and Redcliffe State High School before his family settled into the bayside suburb. He began competing at Redlands Little Athletics, before returning to Redcliffe Little Athletics and later training at Deception Bay.
His entry into jumping events was unconventional. After an injury at age 16 forced a rethink about his sporting goals, Adcock and his stepbrother turned their focus specifically to triple jump. They built a makeshift sandpit in their backyard with a 20-metre run-up, and Adcock registered with Athletics Queensland during Year 12.
An external coach soon advised him to switch to long jump, and the results quickly followed. He won Queensland state titles and reached the national podium in 2017 and 2018. Despite finishing second at the national selection trials, he missed a spot on the 2018 Commonwealth Games team. Following that omission, Adcock took a six-month break from the sport before joining a new training squad.
A succession of severe injuries followed, including major ankle surgery on his take-off leg, keeping him off the national championships circuit through 2019, 2020, and 2021.
The comeback to world-class ranks
Adcock returned to competitive action in 2022, travelling to Europe and jumping within three centimetres of his personal best. His 2023 season delivered a major competitive breakthrough.
He cleared the eight-metre barrier for the first time in Auckland, won the 2023 Australian Athletics Championships in Brisbane with a leap of 8.06 metres, and earned selection for the World Championships in Budapest. In Budapest, his 7.99-metre jump missed the final by one centimetre, a distance that ultimately placed seventh in the final round.
Following the passing of his long-time coach Gary Bourne in late 2023, Adcock relocated to Sydney. He adapted his preparation to a self-coached program, utilizing the track and gym frameworks of coach Andrew Murphy at the Sydney University Athletics Club.
His subsequent 2025 campaign yielded elite international results. He claimed a bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing with a leap of 8.28 metres, and won the Rome Diamond League event, producing a lifetime best of 8.34 metres on his final jump to defeat Olympic champion Miltiádis Tentóglou.
He closed out his international circuit by placing third at the Diamond League Final in Zurich with 8.24 metres, ending the year ranked fifth in the world with the top four Australian long jump performances of the season.
Glasgow and the debut milestone
While the Paris 2024 Olympics was a primary career goal, injury hampered his performance. Adcock slipped on the take-off board in a warm-up meet prior to the Olympics, aggravating a pre-existing hamstring tendinopathy in his take-off leg. The injury limited his power output in Paris, where he finished the qualification round in 27th place with a best mark of 7.56 metres.
He responded with a strong domestic season, culminating in a dominant victory at the 2026 Australian Athletics Championships in Sydney with a jump of 8.26 metres. This performance locked in his automatic selection for Glasgow.
The 2026 Commonwealth Games will mark Adcock’s debut at the event, entering the competition sitting equal fourth on the Australian all-time long jump list. For the Moreton Bay community that watched him record his early jumps at the local track, the Glasgow selection rewards 12 years of competitive persistence.
To track Liam Adcock’s progress in Glasgow, visit athletics.com.au or commonwealthgames.com.au.
Published 17-June-2026
