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Nigerian high jumper Temitope Adeshina has won bronze in the women’s high jump at the 2026 Commonwealth Games, becoming the first Nigerian woman to win a Commonwealth Games medal in the event and ending a 72-year wait for Nigeria on the podium. Adeshina cleared 1.90 metres to finish third behind Australia’s Eleanor Patterson and Nicola Olyslagers, who claimed gold and silver. The bronze marks Nigeria’s first Commonwealth Games medal in the high jump since Emmanuel Ifeajuna won gold at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, making Adeshina the second Nigerian and the first Nigerian woman to achieve this.
The result is another milestone for the athlete, who has steadily established herself as one of Nigeria’s leading high jumpers. A student-athlete at Texas Tech University in the United States, Adeshina had an impressive season this year, winning both the NCAA indoor and outdoor high jump titles before heading to Glasgow.
She also represented Nigeria at the Paris Olympics and currently holds the Nigerian national record in the women’s high jump. Her journey at the Commonwealth Games also tells a story of progress. When she made her debut in Birmingham in 2022, Adeshina finished tenth and left without a medal. Four years later, she returned to the Games as one of Nigeria’s strongest medal prospects and delivered on that performance to secure a place in the field that included two of the world’s best high jumpers.
Adeshina’s bronze came during another successful day for the Nigerian team. Earlier in the evening, sprinter Kanyinsola Ajayi won bronze in the men’s 100 metres after running 9.90 seconds, while Nigeria’s weightlifters and para powerlifters continued the strong form that has defined the country’s campaign in Glasgow. By Wednesday, Nigeria had won 12 medals, six gold, four silver and two bronze, making it Africa’s highest-ranked nation on the Commonwealth Games medal table.
Much of Nigeria’s success has come through sports that rarely receive the same attention as football. Weightlifting, para powerlifting and athletics have accounted for the country’s biggest moments in Glasgow, with athletes such as Rafiatu Lawal, Edidiong Umoafia, Onome Didih, Esther Nworgu and Folashade Oluwafemiayo all contributing to the medal haul. Adeshina’s bronze now joins that growing list of achievements.
Her bronze adds to the encouraging number for Nigeria, where the country’s athletes have picked up medals across weightlifting and athletics. While her medals attract the biggest headlines, Adeshina’s performance will be remembered for opening a chapter that had remained closed since 1954 and added another first to Nigeria’s athletics history. Seventy-two years after Emmanuel Ifeajuna’s gold, Nigeria once again has a Commonwealth Games high jump medallist, this time through Temitope Adeshina, the first Nigerian woman to achieve the feat.
