Jeremiah Azu, Jake Heyward, Melissa Courtney-Bryant and Issy Boffey are in the squad for Glasgow but sprinter Hannah Brier is controversially left out.

Welsh Athletics will send a team of 18 athletes to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow next month.

Jeremiah Azu, the 2025 world and European indoor champion, will be hoping to add a Commonwealth medal to his collection.

Jake Heyward, who ran his first competitive race in almost four years in May, will make his Commonwealth return after finishing fifth in the 1500m in 2022.

Adele Nicoll will compete in shot put, just four months after representing Team GB in bobsleigh at the Winter Olympics in Italy.

Three-time Paralympic champion Aled Davies will be defending his Commonwealth Games F42-44 discus title, while Olivia Breen is gearing up for her fourth Commonwealth Games and is aiming to add to her tally of two gold medals and a bronze. In Birmingham four years ago, she stormed to gold in the 100m.

The squad also includes 800m runner Issy Boffey, heptathlete Abigail Pawlett, whereas Ava Lloyd will go in the women's mile.

Elsewhere in the stadium in the red vest will be Justin Davies in the 800m, Charlotte Henrich in the 400m, Cari Hughes in the 3000m steeplechase and pole vaulter Thomas Walley.

The selections have drawn criticism, too. For one, the team was named the day before the UK Championships were due to start in Birmingham. There was a notable omission with sprinter Hannah Brier left out the squad as well.

Brier broke a 44-year Welsh record with 22.79 for 200m this season. But her performance was eight days after the Team Wales deadline for selection of May 17.

However the date is also three weeks before that of Team Scotland and four weeks before Team England athletes need to qualify.

James Williams, Welsh Athletics CEO, said: “The Commonwealth Games is a very special and significant event in our calendar. It’s the only opportunity that our athletes compete as Wales at the very highest level. On the track and field in Glasgow, Wales can look forward to supporting an incredibly strong team. Among them are some very familiar faces like Aled Davies, Olivia Breen, Jeremiah Azu and Adele Nicoll.

“We’re also really looking forward to watching 10 of our athletes – that’s more than 50% of the athletics squad – make their first-ever Commonwealth Games experience and we can’t wait for Wales to get behind them. In Glasgow, we will see our largest number of para athletes invited to compete at a Commonwealth Games which really demonstrates the strength of Para Athletics here in Wales.”

Azu said: “It’s always an incredible honour to represent Wales, and I’m absolutely delighted to be selected for the Commonwealth Games. I was just 21 years old when I competed at Birmingham 2022, and that experience played a huge role in my development as an athlete. To have the opportunity to represent Wales again four years later, with the experience I've had since, makes it even more special.

“With the Games feeling almost like a home championship, I can’t wait to get out there, compete in front of the fans and do my best to make Wales proud."

Full squad:
Abigail Pawlett, Adele Nicoll, Aled Davies, Amber Simpson, Ava Lloyd, Bree Cronin, Cari Hughes, Charlotte Henrich, Ellie Bowen, Funmi Oduwaiye, Harrison Walsh, Isabelle Boffey, Jake Heyward, Jeremiah Azu, Justin Davies, Melissa Courtney-Bryant, Olivia Breen, Thomas Walley.