Davies Smale has target on her back for 2026 Games

England weightlifter Sarah Davies Smale has said there is a target on her back as she prepares for the Commonwealth Games.

The 33-year-old heads to her fourth successive Games having made her debut the previous time the event was held in Glasgow in 2014.

Smale won silver at 69kg on the Gold Coast in 2018 and went on to win gold in the 71kg category in Birmingham in 2022 but will face tough competition from Canada's Maude Charron this time around.

"I'm the person with the target on the back. I'm the person that the new ones coming in are chasing down," she told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"[One of] my biggest competition going into this is a friend of mine from Canada and she is also defending champion but from a different weight class.

"She was also Olympic champion in Tokyo and medallist in Paris. So we've been waiting about the same period of time.

"She also competed in Glasgow last time around. We are good friends like on and off the platform. I think it'll be good fun to compete against her and it's all to play for."

For Davies Smale, there is more to the Commonwealth Games than it simply being a place for an athlete to compete.

Since she was a girl, the Games have had a special importance to her and it is even more impactful for her to compete as an adult.

"The longer I'm in this the more I try to stop and appreciate what I've been able to do and where I've been able to go," she continued.

"My mum sent me a picture the other day of 10-year-old me in a replica Manchester 2002 gymnastics leotard.

"My coach said 'how cool is it that you can tell that 10-year-old Sarah that she's been and done all of these things and that little girl that was dreaming of doing those things?' and that makes me emotional."

Glasgow is where the games began for Davies Smale, having competed at a Commonwealth Games there for the first time in 2014.

The memories of that appearance has put the career she has had since into perspective.

"When I qualified for Glasgow [in 2014], I'd been weightlifting for like 18 months or something. And I'd been to one international before I went to Glasgow. I'd been to a European Championships and I'd lifted in a B or a C group so there was nobody in there but the cleaner at the back hoovering and there wasn't any atmosphere," she added.

"I just remember how petrified I looked on that stage, like a deer in the headlights.

"I looked like I was going to burst into tears the whole time, like just that overwhelm of emotion because at that point it hadn't been quite as long since 10-year-old me was dreaming of going to a Commonwealth Games.

"I put a lot of pressure on myself as I was living out this childhood dream. At that point I had no idea of the length of career that was ahead of me and it was a case of grasping the opportunity while I could because I didn't really know what journey I was heading towards."