Victoria Square in the heart of the city will be a welcome sight for the finishers in all four Marathon races that will be held on the first Saturday of the Games.

The latest and final venue for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games has been confirmed, with Victoria Square in Birmingham city centre revealed as the official finish area for the Marathon which will be held on Saturday 30 July 2022.

The square will welcome finishers in all four races that will be held on the first Saturday of the Games, with the men’s marathon, women’s marathon and the men’s and women’s T53/T54 events all taking place on the same course which will start at Smithfield, another Birmingham city centre venue that has previously been announced as the home of beach volleyball and basketball 3×3 and wheelchair basketball 3×3 during the Games.

Australia has enjoyed a successful history in the Marathon event, most recently at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games where Australian Team members won three of the four events and narrowly missed out on taking gold in the other.

Kurt Fearnley AO ended his illustrious career taking out gold in the men’s T54 event in an emotional finale to the Gold Coast Games.

Teammate Michael Shelley won gold in the men’s marathon for the second straight Games, while Lisa Weightman and Jessica Stenson narrowly missed out on making it a quadrella for Australia, finishing in the silver and bronze medal positions respectively in the women’s marathon, but the Games were a breakthrough moment for Madison de Rozario and the women’s T54 marathon was her crowning achievement.

After missing out on competing at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games due to injury, de Rozario broke through for her first multi-sport event gold medal earlier in the Gold Coast sport program when she won gold in the women’s T54 1500m.

On the final day of the Gold Coast competition and in sweltering conditions, de Rozario powered her way to victory in the marathon embracing the Birmingham 2022 Australian Team campaign ethos of Bold Brave Brilliant.

Her second gold medal of the Games, and the inaugural winner of the T54 marathon event which was making its Games debut on the Gold Coast and making for a memorable highlight in Australia’s Commonwealth Games history.

However, Birmingham will present a new challenge to the 27-year-old when the marathon takes place on the first Saturday of the Games, days before her 1500m track event, a scheduling quirk that is forcing the defending champion to adjust her training to overcome the exhaustion of a marathon race.

“I have to do the marathon first and then follow it up with a track race, which I have never done before in my career,” de Rozario said.

“There’s something about a marathon where you don’t really want to jump back in your race chair immediately after.

“One of the big things we work on is our plan around is how do you back up from a marathon, that fitness, that base work, to then get on the track for a really sharp event.”

Madison de Rozario crossing the finishing line to win gold in the women’s T54 marathon at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

As well as unveiling the full 42.2km route for the Marathon, Birmingham 2022 organisers have also unveiled the courses for the Cycling Road Race which will be held in Warwickshire, the Cycling Time Trial which will start and finish in West Park in Wolverhampton and the Triathlon and Para Triathlon events which will be held in and around Sutton Park, six miles north of Birmingham City Centre.

“We are thrilled to be unveiling our final venue for the Games and it is fitting that Victoria Square has been chosen as the finish area for the Marathon, as it is located right in the heart of the host city for Birmingham 2022,” Director of Sport for Birmingham 2022 Matt Kidson said.

“We are also pleased to be able to publish all of the courses for our road events. These routes will help to profile some fantastic landmarks from across the region and showcase the West Midlands to the world.

“Publishing these details with nine months still to go until the Games begin also means that local residents, businesses and other organisations have plenty of time to make plans for when these one-day events are staged in their local area.”

The course for the marathon is split into two distinct sections – a southern loop which the athletes must complete twice, followed by a shorter city centre section which will showcase some of Birmingham’s best loved landmarks to millions of TV viewers, as the runners pass Centenary Square, the Jewellery Quarter, St Paul’s Square and St Phillips’s Cathedral, before crossing the finish line in Victoria Square.

Last September it was announced that the Cycling Time Trial would start and finish in West Park in Wolverhampton but today it has also been revealed that the course for this event, which will be held on Thursday 4 August, will take the cyclists through Dudley, passing the town’s famous castle and zoo, before heading into the county of Staffordshire, with the cyclists then heading back towards Wolverhampton.

The full route for the Cycling Road Race has also been shared today. This event will see the women complete seven laps of a 16km course, whilst the men will complete ten laps. The course, which starts and finishes at St Nicholas Park, will see the riders cycling past the Lord Leycester Hospital in Warwick town centre, as well as Victoria Park in Royal Leamington Spa, the venue for the Birmingham 2022 lawn bowls and para lawn bowls competition.

Full course descriptions are available on the Birmingham 2022 website and course maps are available below.

The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games will take place from 28 July to 8 August.

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You have the chance to be in Birmingham supporting the Australian Team, for the first time Australian families and fans will be able to access group tickets for all events at the Commonwealth Games.

The Family & Fans Tour ensures Australian families and fans can sit and cheer together, stay together and play together at the Birmingham Games.

Tour packages are available for all sports; however, numbers are limited.

Bookings are now open, learn more about the Family & Fans Tour below.