Malta marks one year to go until the Commonwealth Youth Games Malta 2027, opening on 29 October 2027, with competition from 30 October to 4 November 2027
Malta today marks one year to go until it hosts the Commonwealth Youth Games, which open on 29 October 2027. Young athletes from across the Commonwealth will then compete on the islands from 30 October to 4 November 2027.
To mark the milestone, Malta 2027 has released a new video built around the Games emblem. The video brings together the eight sports on the Malta 2027 programme as the islands prepare to welcome the next generation of Commonwealth champions.
Malta is expected to host around 1,200 athletes aged 14 to 18 from the Commonwealth's 74 nations and territories. They will compete in Athletics and Para Athletics, Netball, Sailing, Squash, Swimming and Para Swimming, Triathlon, Water Polo 4x4 and Weightlifting, with 116 medal events taking place over six days of competition across Malta and Gozo.
Malta 2027 will also feature the largest Para sport programme in Youth Games history, with 24 Para medal events. Para Athletics debuted at the 2023 Games in Trinidad and Tobago, and Para Swimming will debut in Malta, with medals contested across eight multi-class sprint events in freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke.
Minister for Education and Sport, Byron Camilleri, said “With one year to go, the countdown to Malta 2027 is well and truly under way. Hosting the Commonwealth Youth Games is a proud moment for our country and a unique opportunity for our young athletes, who will compete at a major multi-sport event on home soil, in front of their families, friends and the Maltese public. These Games are about more than medals. They are about inspiring a new generation to take up sport, leaving a lasting legacy for sport in Malta and Gozo, and showing the Commonwealth the warmth and hospitality our islands are known for. We look forward to welcoming athletes, officials and visitors from across the Commonwealth next year."
Since the first edition in Edinburgh in 2000, the Commonwealth Youth Games have given young athletes their first taste of international multi-sport competition. Many of today's Commonwealth, Olympic, Paralympic and World Champions first competed at a Youth Games.
To mark one year to go, several of them have reflected on their own Youth Games experience. They include Jazmin Sawyers, who won two golds at the Isle of Man 2011 Youth Games and long jump gold at Glasgow 2026; Kirani James, 400m champion at Pune 2008 and later Olympic champion at London 2012; and Shayna Jack, who won in Samoa in 2015 before becoming an Olympic champion in 2024 and winning two golds at Glasgow 2026. Nigeria's Samuel Ogazi, who won three golds at the Trinbago 2023 Youth Games, went on to win 400m gold in Glasgow this year.
Jazmin Sawyers, two-time gold medallist at the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games, said, “My advice for the athletes heading to Malta is two-fold. Firstly, enjoy the experience to the best of your ability, and relish the fact that you have earned your spot and belong on the big stage. Secondly, meet as many people as you can, both fellow athletes and staff. Many of the people who are still a big part of my career were people I met at my earliest championships."
The Commonwealth Youth Games Malta 2027 will open on 29 October 2027, with competition taking place from 30 October to 4 November 2027.
For further information, visit www.malta2027.com or email [email protected].
