It’s seven months until the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games kicks off on the 28th July, and the excitement ahead of the tournament is already building.
Athletes from 15 nations are taking part in 20 different sports, which are hosting 283 different events across 12 days, as the competition kicks off in Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium.
As five sports re-enter the competition, some returning after a hiatus and some appearing for the first time, England will be hoping to better their second placed finish from the 2018 games, as they managed 136 medals to place only behind Australia.
With that in mind, Park Life Sport is taking a look at these five new sports, and looking at which English athletes are the favourites to win silverware.
Triathlon
The first medal up for grabs from the new sports available is Triathlon on July 29, with five gold medals up for offer across two days.
It will see athletes compete in a sprint distance of a 750m swim, 20km cycle and 5km run, with the medals available being Individual Women’s, Individual Men, Para Individual Women, Para Individual Men and a ‘Mixed Team Relay’ event.
For your ‘ones to watch’ for the competition, Jonathan Brownlee will be hoping to continue his impressive Olympic form, winning bronze in London 2012, silver in 2016 and gold in 2020, with the three-time Olympic games medallist looking to compete both in the Individual men’s, and in the relay.
Judo
The second of the new events will see its first Commonwealth event take place on 1 August, before three more consecutive days of the sport on offer, with 14 gold medals in the offing for athletes.
Judo has previously featured at the Games on four occasions, but was excluded from the 2018 games in the Gold Coast.
England has traditionally performed very well at the sport, winning a total of 28 golds, almost double every other nation combined.
The current number 1 ranked for men’s 60kg is Ashley McKenzie who won gold in the sports previous appearance at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, meanwhile Chelsie Giles will be hoping to improve upon her bronze medal at the 2020 Olympics.
Table Tennis
Taking place on the same day as Judo is Table Tennis, which will see ten gold medals up on offer, with Para Table Tennis being confirmed to feature regularly.
The sport was first introduced as a temporary sport in Manchester 2002, and in subsequent tournaments it has been so popular that it is now a full-time event for the Games.
With England’s previous performance in Australia seeing six medals from the sport, two of them being gold. Ross Wilson will be the favourite to defend his title in the Para Table Tennis, while Liam Pitchford and Charlotte Carey are seeking to continue their dominant form in the Men’s and Women’s sports respectively.
Charlotte Carey in particular will be a favourite for success in the competition, with the current Welsh number 1 looking to compete in her fourth Commonwealth Games.
Road Cycling
Officially returning to the calendar as a regular fixture for 2022 is cycling, with three variations on offer in Mountain, Track and Road Cycling.
The road course is contested by completing laps of the route up to a final distance of 160km for men, and 112km for women, with the circuit both beginning and ending in Warwick.
There are only four gold medals on offer for the sport, amongst the fewest in the games, across two days of events.
Only Jersey has officially confirmed its place in the Road Cycling event already, but it is likely that the likes of England will soon officially join the event, looking to improve their form in the competition, where they sit behind Australia in second in the all-time rankings.
The likes of Lizzie Deignan will be hoping to capture another gold medal for England, having won the Women’s Road World Cup on three separate occasions.
Wrestling
Finally, the last sport of the five will see England hope to improve form in the sport they have traditionally struggled with, as 10 medals are on offer from the August 6.
England are currently seventh in the sports all-time rankings, behind the likes of Pakistan and Nigeria. Having previously won five gold medals across the competitions history, this will be the third time that England have hosted the Games, with the two previous times seeing medals from the sport.
Georgina Nelthorpe, Syerus Eslami and Charlie Bowling won England’s most recent wrestling medal, winning Bronze at the freestyle event in Australia, and will be hoping to go one better in Birmingham.
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