Jonathan Goerlach (triathlon) will make his Commonwealth Games debut in Birmingham alongside sighted guide Dave Mainwaring, when vision impaired triathlon classification makes its Commonwealth Games debut. At 15, Jono was diagnosed with Usher Syndrome Type II – a hearing and degenerative visual impairment which means he has no peripheral vision, suffers night blindness and has only tunnel vision. He has been classed as legally blind since he was 18-years-old. As a result, he gave up playing sport when he left school and ignored his deteriorating condition. Frustrated and depressed, he moved overseas in 2010, working in Amsterdam as a sports massage therapist dealing with many clients who were runners. He was inspired to pull on his running shoes again and started training with a running squad. In 2012, he decided to take up triathlon, aiming to be the first Australian male vision-impaired triathlete at a Paralympic Games. However, he had one significant hurdle to overcome – he needed to learn how to swim. Jono nearly drowned as a four-year-old and was so traumatised that he avoided all water sports. Fighting through, he finished 8th at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. Jono has a Bachelor of Sports Management from the University of Canberra and has been the national para-triathlete champion on numerous occasions.