Jordan finishes third in heat one of 50m backstroke

Team Gibraltar swimmer Jordan Gonzalez was the first to take to the pool this morning at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games.
The Gibraltar swimmer competed in the men's 50m backstroke, where he faced Ibrahim Kamara (SLE), Lukas Robbertse (SHN), John Samura (SLE), Delroy Tyrrell (GUY), Iwan Chang Lai Seng (SEY), Jack Harvey (BER) and Nolan George (SHN).
With the sixteen fastest times across the five heats qualifying for the semi-finals, Jordan had to wait to see whether his time would be enough to take him through to the next round. Qualification for the semi-finals was based on times rather than finishing positions in the heats.
Glasgow 2026 features the largest-ever swimming programme at a Commonwealth Games, with the inclusion of the women's 1500m freestyle and men's 800m freestyle for the first time.
Swimming and Para Swimming at the Commonwealth Games takes place in a long-course 50m pool – double the length of a typical leisure pool and often referred to as "Olympic size". Since the opening of the Lathbury Swimming Pool, Gibraltar's swimmers have been able to gain experience racing over the full 50m distance. The 50m backstroke requires no turn, making it a straight sprint from one end of the pool to the other.
Swimming in lane three, with Lukas Robbertse (SHN) and John Samura (SLE) in the adjacent lanes, Jordan finished third in his heat in a time of 28.30 seconds.
Jack Harvey (BER) won the heat in 25.50 seconds, followed by Delroy Tyrrell (GUY) in 27.61. Jordan finished 2.80 seconds behind the winner and almost two seconds ahead of fourth-placed Iwan Chang Lai Seng (SEY).
Jordan was still with a chance of qualifying for the semi-finals as the second heat was completed. However, the strength of the field competing was seen clearly in the third heat with with all eight swimmers below the 27.50.
By the completion of the fourth heat Jordan having falling into 22nd position, finishing in the end 29th overall from a total of 40 swimmers.
Jordan Gonzalez was to tell the official Gibraltar Commonwealth Association media team that he had a "technical error at the start" which was entirely his fault but had been able to keep the "momentum and rhythm going". Jordan was unable to beat his own national record that stands at 28.19 set in the Gold Coast.
Jack Harvey was among the top 16 to qualify into the semi-final stage. Pieter COETZE (RSA) finishing overall leader with a time of 24.45. The sixteenth best time being that of Lamar TAYLOR (BAH) with a time of 25.91.

This was the first of Jordan's two events at the Games, with his next race, the men's 50m butterfly, scheduled for Tuesday, July 28, at 11.56am Gibraltar time.