LET THE GAMES BEGIN!
Australia’s Commonwealth Games athletes are set to shine on Day One of competition in Birmingham, with strong medal chances in the pool and at the velodrome, along with the World Champion women’s T20 cricket team opening their Games campaign against fierce rivals India.
Following the spectacular Games Opening Ceremony at Alexander Stadium earlier this morning, where Australia led out the athlete parade of nations, it’s now down to business with the green and gold competing across 13 sports on the opening day.
Ahead of the Games beginning, Chef de Mission Petria Thomas says ambitions for Team Australia remain high.
“We want to finish on top of the medal tally and we’ve not been shy about that. We’ve had an excellent performance history in the Commonwealth Games, but having said that when we come away to a Games on English home soil it will be a challenge for us.”
“Our goals are to have more medalists across as many sports as possible but we also need to make sure athletes are performance ready and healthy and that’s no easy feat in this current environment.”
The first medal of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games will be raced and won in the triathlon sprint distance at Sutton Park, just outside Birmingham, with Australia represented by Charlotte McShane, Natalia Van Coevorden and Sophie Linn in the women’s event and Brandon Copeland, Jacob Birtwhistle, Matthew Hauser representing the Aussie men.
Golden girl Ariarne Titmus leads the Aussie charge in the pool, opening her program in the heats of the 200m freestyle, with world-record holder Zac Stubblety-Cook hitting the water in the 200m breaststroke and new world champion Elijah Winnington lining up in the 400m freestyle. The sprinters also get their first hit-out in the dynamic mixed 4x100m freestyle relay, while Paralympic champion Ellie Cole dives in for her final career hit-out in the S9 100m freestyle, aiming to make the finals which take place early Saturday morning AEST.
Six gold medals are on offer on Day One in track cycling at the Lee Valley VeloPark, with Australia hoping for a podium finish in the men’s team sprint (Leigh Hoffman, Matthew Richardson, Matthew Glaetzer), the women’s individual pursuit (Maeve Plouffe) and women’s 500m time trial (Kristina Clonan).
Team sports competing on Day One include Australia’s women’s cricket world champions, up against India in a re-match of the momentous 2020 World Cup Final, while Australia’s 2018 netball silver medallists meet Barbados at NEC Arena. Basketball 3×3 makes its Commonwealth Games debut, and the first of three days of Rugby 7s action begins at Coventry Stadium, with the Australian women playing South Africa and Scotland, while the men take on Jamaica and Uganda.
AUSSIES IN ACTION DAY ONE
ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS
Men’s Team Final and Individual Qualification (Mitchell Morgans, Tyson Bull, James Bacueti, Clay Mason Stephens and Jesse Moore)
(1800 BST, 0300 AEST Saturday)
Utilita Arena Birmingham
BADMINTON
Mixed Team Event Qualifying Round 1 and 2 – Australia v Sri Lanka (Round 1) in Session 2
(from Fri 2300 AEST, 1400 BST)
National Exhibition Centre
BASKETBALL 3X3
Women’s Group Match – Australia v Scotland
(1530 BST 0030 AEST),
Australia v Kenya (2100 BST 0600 AEST);
Men’s Wheelchair Group Match – Canada v Australia (1930 BST 0430 AEST)
Women’s Wheelchair Group Match – Australia v Scotland (2100 BST 0600 AEST)
Smithfield
BOXING
Men’s and Women’s Preliminary Rounds – Men’s Light Welterweight Round of 32- Billy Polkinghorn (AUS) v Fabio Tyrell Liam Roselie (SEY)
(1330 BST, 2230 AEST)
National Exhibition Centre
CRICKET
Group Matches; Australia v India
(1100 BST, Fri 2000 AEST)
Edgbaston Cricket Ground
LAWN BOWLS
Rounds 1 and 2 – Women’s Singles Sectional Play (Ellen Ryan), Para Men’s Pairs B6-B8 Sectional Play (Damien Delgado, Chris Flavel), Men’s Triples Sectional Play (Barrie Lester, Carl Healey, Ben Twist), Para Women’s Pairs B6-B8 Sectional Play (Cheryl Lindfield, Serena Bonnell), Men’s Pairs Sectional Play (Corey Wedlock, Aaron Wilson), Women’s Fours Sectional Play (Kristina Krstic, Lynsey Clarke, Rebecca van Asch, Natasha van Eldik)
(from 0830 BST, 1730 AEST)
Victoria Park
NETBALL
Group Matches; Australia v Barbados
(1400 BST, 2300 AEST)
National Exhibition Centre
RUGBY SEVENS
Men’s Group Matches
Australia v Jamaica (1028 BST 1928 AEST)
Australia v Uganda (1920 BST 0420 AEST)
Women’s Group Matches
Australia v South Africa (0900 BST 1800 AEST)
Australia v Scotland (1752 BST 0252 AEST)
Coventry Stadium
SQUASH
Men’s Singles Round of 64 – Rhys Dowling (AUS) v Jason Doyle (SVG) (1215 BST 2115 AEST)
SWIMMING
Morning session (From 1230 AEST, Fri 1930 AEST)
Men’s 400m Freestyle Heats (Elijah Winnington, Mack Horton, Sam Short), Women’s 400m Individual Medley Heats (Jenna Forrester, Kiah Melverton), Women’s 200m Freestyle Heats (Ariarne Titmus, Mollie O’Callaghan, Madison Wilson), Men’s 100m Backstroke S9 Heats (Brenden Hall, Timothy Hodge, Harrison Vig), Women’s 100m Freestyle S9 Heats (Emily Beecroft, Ellie Cole, Ashleigh McConnell), Men’s 50m Butterfly Heats (Kyle Chalmers, Cody Simpson, Matt Temple), Women’s 50m Breaststroke Heats (Abbey Harkin, Chelsea Hodges, Jenna Strauch), Men’s 100m Backstroke Heats (Josh Edwards-Smith, Mitch Larkin), Women’s 100m Butterfly Heats (Emma McKeon, Alex Perkins, Brianna Throssell), Men’s 200m Breaststroke Heats (Zac Stubblety-Cook, Matt Wilson), Mixed 4x100m Freestyle Relay Heats (Australia). Night session (from 0400 AEST) – Women’s 400m Individual Medley Final, Women’s 200m Freestyle Final, Men’s 400m Freestyle Final, Men’s 100m Backstroke S9 Final, Women’s 100m Freestyle S9 Final, Men’s 50m Butterfly Semi-Finals, Women’s 50m Breaststroke Semi-Finals, Men’s 100m Backstroke Semi-Final, Women’s 100m Butterfly Semi-Final, Men’s 200m Breaststroke Final, Mixed 4x100m Freestyle Relay Final Sandwell Aquatics Centre
TABLE TENNIS
Women’s Team Qualifying Rounds 1 and 2 (Australia v Malaysia); Men’s Team Qualifying Rounds 1 and 2 (Australia v Malaysia) (From 0930 BST, 1830 AEST) National Exhibition Centre
TRACK CYCLING
Women’s Tandem B Sprint (Jessica Gallagher, Caitlin Ward) Qualification, Semi Finals, Finals; Women’s 4000m Team Pursuit (Georgia Baker, Sophie Edwards, Maeve Plouffe, Chloe Moran, Alyssa Polites) Qualification, Finals; Men’s 4000m Team Pursuit (Josh Duffy, Graeme Frislie, Conor Leahy, James Moriarty, Luke Plapp) Qualification, Finals; Women’s Team Sprint (Kristina Clonan, Breanna Hargrave, Alessia McCaig) Qualification, Finals; Men’s Team Sprint (Matthew Glaetzer, Leigh Hoffman, Matthew Richardson) Qualification, Finals; Men’s Tandem B 1000m Time Trial Final (Beau Wootton, Luke Zaccaria) (From 1200 BST, 1900 AEST) Lee Valley VeloPark
TRIATHLON
Men’s Individual (Brandon Copeland, Jake Birtwhistle, Matthew Hauser) (1100 BST, 2000 AEST); Women’s Individual (Natalie Van Coevorden, Sophie Linn, Charlotte McShane) (1430 BST, 2130 AEST), Sutton Park
#BoldinGold campaign kicks off in Birmingham
Australia’s Commonwealth Games athletes are set to shine on day one of competition at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, with strong medal chances in the pool and at the velodrome, along with the World Champion Women’s T20 cricket team opening their Games campaign against fierce rivals India.
After Australia led out the athlete parade of nations at the spectacular Games opening ceremony, it’s now down to business with the green and gold competing across 13 sports on an opening day.
Ahead of the Games beginning, Chef de Mission Petria Thomas OAM says ambitions for Team Australia remain high.
“We want to finish on top of the medal tally and we’ve not been shy about that. We’ve had an excellent performance history in the Commonwealth Games, but having said that when we come away to a Games on English home soil it will be a challenge for us.”
Our goals are to have more medalists across as many sports as possible but we also need to make sure athletes are performance ready and healthy and that’s no easy feat in this current environment”
Ariarne Titmus leads the Aussie charge in the pool on Day One, opening her program in the 200m freestyle, with world-record holder Zac Stubblety-Cook hitting the water in the 200m breaststroke. The sprinters also get their first hit-out in the dynamic mixed 4x100m freestyle relay, while Paralympic champion Ellie Cole is set to retire after racing the S9 100m freestyle on the first night of swimming finals.
Seven medals are on offer at the Lee Valley VeloPark, with Australia entering the Games as gold-medal favourites in several events including the men’s team sprint (Leigh Hoffman, Matthew Richardson, Matthew Glaetzer), women’s individual pursuit (Maeve Plouffe) and women’s 500m time trial (Kristina Clonan).
The very first medal of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games will be won at the triathlon with Australia represented across both the men’s and women’s sprint distance races at Sutton Park, outside Birmingham.
Team sports competing on day one include Australia’s women’s cricket world champions, up against India in a re-match of the momentous 2020 World Cup Final, while Australia’s 2018 netball silver medalists meet Barbados at the NEC Arena. Basketball 3×3 makes its Commonwealth Games debut, and the first of three days of Rugby 7s action begins at Coventry Stadium, with the Australian women playing South Africa and Scotland, while the men take on Jamaica and Uganda.
The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games will be held over the next 11 days, with Australia represented by an adjusted total number of 429 athletes.
