Commonwealth Day and the countdown to Birmingham 2022

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Monday 14 March marks Commonwealth Day, with the day especially poignant this year as Birmingham welcomes athletes from across the Commonwealth for the Commonwealth Games.

Taking place every four years, the Commonwealth Games bring together nations from across the world and gives British athletes the opportunity to represent their specific home nation.

Athletes selected so far are Beth Potter for Team Scotland and Jonny Brownlee, Georgia Taylor-Brown, Alex Yee and Sophie Coldwell for Team England.

A home Games for England for the first time since Manchester 2002, it will be eight years since Glasgow 2014 and the last time the Games came to Britain when Birmingham 2022 kicks off at the end of July.

The individual triathlon medals will be the first to be won with the men’s and women’s races both taking place on the first day of competition, Friday 29 July, following the opening ceremony the night before.

PTVI paratriathlon and mixed relay triathlon will take place two days later on Sunday 31 July, with all the action from both days taking place in and around Sutton Park. The park is located in The Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, a matter of miles north of Birmingham itself.

The swim will take place in Powell’s Pool, whilst the bike leg will see athletes start in the park and race along the local streets of Boldmere and Oscott before returning to the park for multiple laps.

The final element will see them run entirely within Sutton Park before heading to the finish back by Powell’s Pool.

All the individual racing will be raced over the sprint distance (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run), with the mixed relay triathlon seeing the quartets complete a 300m swim, 5km bike and 2km run each.

PTVI paratriathlon, for athletes with visual impairments and their guides, will be included in the Commonwealth Games for the first time replacing PTWC which was the first paratriathlon classification to ever been included in the Games in 2018.

Birmingham will have the largest para sport programme of any Commonwealth Games when the action kicks off in July.

Triathlon was first introduced to the Commonwealth Games in 2002, with mixed relay added in 2014. The first time paratriathlon was competed across at the Games was in 2018 at the Gold Coast where the PTWC category featured.

At the last Games in 2018, Team England won both the gold medals in the PTWC races thanks to Jade Jones-Hall and Joe Townsend.

England’s Jess Learmonth also won silver in the women’s individual, with Learmonth teaming up with Vicky Holland, Alastair and Jonny Brownlee for silver in the mixed relay. Scotland’s Marc Austin won bronze in the men’s individual.

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