Sheffield Steelers and Team England’s Tom Harvey made his first senior men’s Great Britain appearance at the 2026 IWBF (International Wheelchair Basketball Federation) World Championships last week.

He scored three points on his debut against Türkiye as Great Britain men got their campaign underway with a 77-70 victory in their opening match.

On being selected to make his debut, Tom Harvey said: “I feel very privileged to be here and buzzing to be called up for the team. It’s not often someone is called up once the teams have already been selected, so after just missing out on not being called up, I couldn’t be happier to be making my debut.”

Great Britain men won two of their three group stage matches with victories over Türkiye (77-70) and Argentina (80-36) before a narrow defeat against Australia (59-77).

This means that they finished second in Group B and now head towards the knockout stages of the championship, which begins with a last 16 match against the Netherlands.

On making his debut and playing across these opening matches, Harvey said: “Buzzing to make my debut, it’s what I’ve worked for since I started playing, really, even more so in these past couple of years at uni. Most looking forward to trying to win the whole thing and spending time with the team on and off the court.”

Harvey’s selection for this tournament came after an impressive summer which saw him and his England teammates qualify for the Commonwealth Games before he won the Premier Division Title with the Sheffield Steelers.

He then capped off his international summer at the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games as he helped England to secure their best ever finish at a Commonwealth Games in the men’s wheelchair basketball with a silver medal.

On competing at the Glasgow 2026 games, Harvey said: “I really enjoyed the Commonwealth Games to debut there too. It was a great experience and one I really enjoyed. Although we fell short of our target of getting gold, which was really disappointing, I feel it was a good experience for me to help me develop, and I’m hoping I can improve on that result here in Ottawa.”

He also made history as one of the captains at the inaugural Rolling Hoops Classic event, which saw him claim the silver medal against an undefeated Team Joy.

The event brought together 50 players across ’10 elite teams’ who competed in the first of its kind 'round-robin-style tournament’ in August 2026.

On the inaugural Rolling Hoops Classic, Harvey said: “Yeah rolling hoops was a good fun competition. It was nice to get a good run out at 5v5 before the worlds had been doing lots of 3x3 this summer to prepare for Commies. And I’m really enjoying playing at the minute and can’t wait for this new chapter and hopefully win worlds.”

The recent successes and development of wheelchair basketball in Great Britain come after a successful previous World Championships in which Great Britain men finished second after winning the 2018 edition.

The men’s team also won the inaugural but unofficial 1973 version of the World Championships, with the team this year hoping that a gold medal would rejuvenate the men’s squad for future competitions.

On Great Britain's men’s successes at past World Championships, Harvey said: “[It’s] really important. GB have been in plenty of finals since then but have yet to recreate that result at a worlds or a Paralympics since, so we’re hoping we can do that here and carry it forward into future competitions.”

Harvey and the rest of Great Britain will therefore be hoping to bring home medals from both the men’s and women’s competitions with the nation being one of the few represented in both World Championships.

A gold medal in the men’s competition would put Great Britain, who are currently on two golds, ahead of Australia on the medal table whilst a gold medal for the women’s squad would be their first ever at a World Championships.

On his hopes for Great Britain at the 2026 World Championships, Harvey said: “We’re hoping to go for gold. I think we’re in a good place and we’ve looked really good in our prep and things are shaping up nicely and I think the women will be looking to medal too so we’re hoping we can both do that.

Great Britain men’s and women’s squad now face daily matches to continue their journeys towards the medal games on 19 September with all of the matches available to watch live on IWBF’s YouTube.