Ben Buckingham (athletics) will make his Commonwealth Games debut in Birmingham in the men’s 3000m steeplechase, just one year on from making his Olympic debut in Tokyo. In a PB time of 8:20.95, Buckingham finished 7th in his 3000m steeplechase heat at Tokyo 2020. This result followed a smattering of strong placings in 2021, including wins at the Queensland Track Classic (PB, meet record) and Folksam Grand Prix in Sweden, plus a silver medal at the Australian championships. Having grown up on a 600-acre cattle farm near Myrtleford in Victoria’s high country, Buckingham began running seriously at the age of 10 with his mother. Following the conferral of his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Melbourne in 2016, Buckingham deferred his start as a full-time lawyer at Minter Ellison by six months to train full-time. He spent this period running 120-130km per week under coach Nick Bowden, before later joining the Melbourne Track Club under Nic Bideau. Outside of athletics, Buckingham now works at ANZ within their retail risk division.