3D Printing Helped Athletes Compete at the 2026 Commonwealth Games

When the 2026 Commonwealth Games closed in Glasgow, the podiums told one story. The equipment behind the athletes told another. Additive Manufacturing UK (AMUK) used the Games to show that 3D-printed parts are no longer prototypes. They are competition hardware.

Para-Triathlon and the Cashmore Mount

British para-triathlete Claire Cashmore competed with a custom bike mount and computer mount designed specifically around her anatomy. Injection molding or CNC machining would have required tooling for a single unit. That cost is hard to justify for one athlete. 3D printing removes that barrier entirely. The same machine that produces a prototype can produce the final part.

76 Additive, the company behind the parts, also built the EZ Gains Hydroglide, a swimming training aid that combines two printing processes. HP Multi Jet Fusion built the rigid nylon structure. Carbon DLS produced the flexible elastomer lattice. Each material handled the mechanical job it does best.

The company's founder, Matt Johnson, puts it plainly: the starting point is always the athlete and the performance problem, not the limits of a specific manufacturing method. Once the fit is right, they refine stiffness, weight, and function quickly, then manufacture the finished component repeatably.

Handbikes, Tandem Drivetrains, and Archery Grips

British para-triathlete Joe Townsend turned to Markforged continuous carbon fiber printing for a custom crankarm on his handbike, along with custom gloves for wheelchair racing. In Stockholm, Markforged partner 3D Verkstan found that certain tandem cycle drivetrain parts were costing up to £3,000 through conventional methods. Switching to 3D-printed prototypes cut that cost dramatically.

Hyundai's archery program offers the longest-running proof point. The Korean archery team has used 3D-printed bow grips since Rio 2016. Each grip is tailored to the individual archer's hand shape and material preference. The team won gold across the men's, women's, and mixed categories at Tokyo 2020 with those grips. Hyundai refined the design between Olympics, showing that additive manufacturing can grow with the athlete, not just fit them once.

Why This Matters

Low-volume, high-performance parts have always been the hardest argument for traditional manufacturing. The tooling cost kills the economics. Additive manufacturing sidesteps that problem. The result is equipment that fits one person perfectly, can be adjusted between seasons, and does not require a factory run of thousands to make sense.

For now, these projects remain the exception rather than the rule. But the Commonwealth Games data point is hard to ignore. When every fraction of a second counts, more teams will look for equipment that conventional methods cannot economically produce.