Niamh Mitchell knows what it’s like to make history.
In 2022, the teenager from Fife became the first Scottish female to win gold at the European Junior Boxing Championships and now, almost four years on, she has her sights set on another first.
The 19-year-old has been named in Scotland’s 11-strong boxing team for next month’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and Mitchell will spearhead the women’s squad which comprises of five women, the most female fighters Scotland has ever sent to a Commonwealth Games.
It’s Mitchell, though, who has the greatest expectations upon her shoulders as the squad heads into Glasgow 2026, which begins next month.
Ever since she returned home from Italy as European Junior champion, Mitchell has been one of the most prominent names in the Scottish amateur boxing scene and backed-up her junior success by winning the British senior title last year, as well as boxing at the 2025 World Championships. Despite her pedigree, she knows just how significant a moment making her Commonwealth Games debut will be but Mitchell will take to the ring at Glasgow 2026 with her far greater than merely pulling on the Scottish colours. And with the teenager in excellent form this year, she’s optimistic she can write herself into the history books once more.
“Honestly, I'm overwhelmed to be selected for Glasgow - this is the biggest milestone in my career so far,” Mitchell says.
“The Commonwealth Games has been a target for me since I was young and I’m 100 percent going for gold in Glasgow.
“To become Scotland’s first female boxing medallist would mean everything. I made history with my European medal so it would be really nice to do it again with a Commonwealth Games medal.
“That European medal did give me confidence but when I won the Euros, it didn't actually sink in because I was still so inexperienced as a boxer. But, as the years have gone on, I've come to the realisation that I am up there with the best in the world. I’ve won two international medals this year already so that has given me a lot of confidence running up to the Games.
“To win a medal at the Games would mean everything to me, to my family, to the country, to everyone. It would make everyone so proud to bring that medal back, which is what I'm going to do.”
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Mitchell’s talent, track record and recent results mean she’s one of the Scottish fighters favoured to pick up silverware at Glasgow 2026. And while the teenager is acutely aware of the expectation and pressure upon her as the Games approach, she’s confident, despite her lack of experience at major senior championships, that she has the temperament to handle the emotions she’ll inevitably feel in the run-up, and at the Games themselves.
“I do feel the pressure but I try not to take on too much because I don't do well with too much pressure on me because I start overthinking things,” she says.
“A lot of athletes have been saying how excited or nervous they are about the Games but I've just tried to relax my mind.
“This whole year I've just been trying to chill out so that when the Games do come around, the pressure doesn't affect me too much. Over the next seven weeks I'm just going to try and soak up as much as I can from the build-up but I just want to act like it's a normal day. Even though it's not normal - it's completely insane going to a Commonwealth Games but I just want to take it as it comes.
“When I get to Glasgow, the secret is to just treat it like a normal tournament. When I get into my own head and tell myself that it's a big deal, it can really affect me - at other tournaments, if I've done that, it sabotages my performance. So for Glasgow, I'm just chilling out so I'll be fine by the time the Games come around. Over the next few weeks I'll just be trying to keep everything simple because so far, that's paid off for me.”
Mitchell is joined in the Team Scotland boxing squad by ten of her compatriots including Scotland’s first-ever female British champion, Stephanie Kernachan, and World Championships quarter-finalists, Robert McNulty and Alan Perrie.
With the level of talent that runs right the way through the Scottish squad, it’s perhaps understandable that Boxing Scotland coach and former Commonwealth Games medallist, Stephen Simmons, looks towards Glasgow 2026 with optimism that the Scottish boxing squad’s tally of five medals, including three golds, at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, will be surpassed.
“I am hoping for more medals than in Birmingham,” says Simmons.
“Do we have more than five gold medalists? Probably not, but it depends on the draw.
“We're hoping to get our first female medal ever in boxing and we have few strong contenders to get a medal but again, it depends on draws.”
