England’s Olympic 800m champion Keeley Hodgkinson has already skipped the event in favor of the European Championships, which start in Birmingham on August 10, leading many to question the event’s significance in the sporting calendar.
The squad for the European Championships is expected to be announced next week.
St Lucia’s Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred has also pulled out of the Glasgow Games, while Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh, one of the sport’s biggest stars, is favoring the Pan-Pacific Swimming Championships.
Since countries such as the USA, China and major European countries are not part of the Commonwealth, some athletes prefer other, more competitive competitions.
These Games were also hurt by the late confirmation of their dates and schedule, which only occurred last October. The event was originally scheduled for March, but the Australian state of Victoria pulled out of the event in 2023.
Speaking on Thursday, organizers insisted the event would be a success despite the absence of some big names.
Scotland’s athletics medal hopes include new mile world record holder Josh Kerr and reigning 10,000m champion Eilish McColgan, while Glasgow 2026 chief executive Phil Batty said the focus should be on young athletes.
“We have an incredible number of athletes,” he said.
“It is very important to make sure these athletes are at the top of their careers and you can see that across all sports.
“Just as exciting as what happened in 2014 (the previous Glasgow Games) is to see which athletes are starting this breakthrough moment.”
Commonwealth Sport chief executive Katie Sadlier said her organization would be discussing other events in the future to create a clearer window.
“These Games were a bit of a test because we only had 18 months and it was really hard to say, ‘Where is the gap over a two-year period?’
“More of these conversations will happen as we move forward.”