Scots To Watch at Birmingham 2022

There will be over 5,000 athletes from 72 nations competing across 280 events when the Commonwealth Games begin in Birmingham on July 28.

254 of the competitors will be Scottish, covering all 20 different sports.

Team Scotland are hoping to build on 2018's medal haul, where they won 44 – 9 gold, 13 silver and 22 bronze.

There are plenty of athletes who could be returning to Scotland with silverware around their neck but here are a few to keep an eye on...

Scottish track stars

Jake Wightman

Athletics is the biggest individual sport with the most entrants, as 33 athletes have been sent down south.

Jake Wightman, 28, is the newly-crowned 1500m World Champion after a fantastic performance in Oregon.

He'll be looking to build on that success, and his bronze medal he won in the same event at the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast in 2018. He also finished fourth in the 800m in that competition.

Laura Muir

Laura Muir is perhaps among the best known of the squad due to her previous successes and she is one of Team Scotland's best medal hopes.

The runner from Perth will be competing in the 800m and 1500m and is going for gold in her second Games, after appearing at Glasgow 2014.

Just last week, she clinched bronze at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon.

Laura made history in 2016 when she broke Dame Kelly Holmes’ British 1500m record with a time of 3:55.22, and went on to finish seventh at the Olympic Games in Rio that year.

Since then she has won the 1500m title at the 2018 European Championships in Berlin, the first British woman ever to do so.

And last year she set a Scottish 800m record of 1.56.73 in before going on to break her own British 1500m record to win silver at the Tokyo Olympics.

Josh Kerr

The 24-year-old from Edinburgh is competing in his first Commonwealth Games but he arrives to Birmingham full of confidence.

He became the first British man since 1988 to win an Olympic medal in the 1500m as he won bronze at Tokyo 2020.

His time of 3:29.05 was a new Scottish record and less than a quarter of a second away from Sir Mo Farah’s British record.

He has been in great form throughout this year, recording the fastest 1500m time ever run in USA with a personal best of 3.31.55 in June, before storming to victory later that month at the British Olympic Trials.

Kerr's main rival for the Gold is a Kenyan, Timothy Cheruiyot.

Jemma Reekie

Reekie will make her Team Scotland debut in Birmingham after an impressive rise in the sport.

She became European Junior champion in 2017 and went on the win a 800m and 1500m double at the European U23 Championships in 2019.

She holds several British indoor records across both distances and made her Olympic debut at the delayed Tokyo Games, competing directly against the more experienced Laura Muir.

However, she impressed and finished 4th in the 800m final in a personal best time of 1.56.90.

She is hoping to go one step further this summer and reach the podium.

Badminton veteran goes again

Kirsty Gilmour

Kirsty Gilmour is one of the Team's most experienced members, appearing at her fourth Games.

She became the youngest badminton player to attend a Commonwealth Games for Scotland when she competed at Delhi 2010 having just turned 17.

At Glasgow 2014 she became the first Scottish woman to reach a Commonwealth Games Badminton Singles final, winning silver.

She returned to the podium in the Gold Coast in 2018, this time winning a bronze.

Gilmour is a double Olympian, have competed at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Games.

She has added a wealth of international medals to her name including three European Championship medals – silver in both 2016 and 2017 and bronze in 2021.

She will compete in the mixed team event as well as women's singles.

Seventh heaven for Bowls hero?

Alex 'Tattie' Marshall

Alex “Tattie” Marshall is the most successful Team Scotland athlete of all time with five gold medals and one silver.

Marshall has been playing Lawn Bowls since the age of eight and first represented Scotland in 1987.

He is still going strong at 55-years-old and Birmingham will be his seventh Games.

He also holds the record for the most World titles with 21 golds, beginning at the 1992 World Outdoor Championships and continuing all the way through to Indoors in 2019.

The larger than life character from Tranent has been awarded an MBE for his services to the sport.

Marshall will play in both the pairs and fours and hopes to add to his remarkable tally of medals.

Reese Lynch

Reese Lynch is one of the great hopes for the future of Scottish boxing.

The 21-year-old become the first Scot to ever medal at the AIBA World Boxing Championships when he won bronze in 2021.

He competes in the light welterweight (63.5 kg) division and will hope to replicate the success of Charlie Flynn in 2014.

Lynch is from West Lothian but trains in Rob Roy Amateur Boxing Club in Glasgow.

He is one of a squad of eight boxers and Lynch will hope to be fighting in the gold medal match on Sunday 7th August.

Judo

Sarah Adlington

Addlington is the most experienced competitor in the Judo team after making her debut with Team GB 14 years ago.

She competes in the +78 kg and has won over 75 medals.

Hailing from Edinburgh Edinburgh, she was part of the all conquering 2014 Glasgow Games team that won gold.

She came 5th at the 2018 World Championships and took part in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo but was defeated in the first round.

The 35-year-old will hope to deliver a better showing in Birmingham.

Covid recovery for Scotland's top swimmer

Duncan Scott

The 25-year-old swimmer is one of the best known faces in the team after impressive medal hauls at previous Commonwealths and Olympics and is perhaps Scotland's best hope for bringing silverware home, although he's still recovering catching Covid-19 which has disrupted his preparation for the games.

Scott was star of the pool at Gold Coast 2018, winning six medals and becoming Scotland’s most decorated athlete at a single Games.

He was also the first Scottish swimmer to ever win gold in the 100m Freestyle.

He won two silver medals at the Rio 2016 Olympics, in both 4x200m Freestyle and 4x100m Medley relays and then went on to become the first British athlete ever to win four medals at a single Olympic Games with gold and three silver at Tokyo 2020.

The European Championships in 2021 saw him claim two gold and three silver medals, whilst he also has four relay gold's and an individual bronze at World Championship's.

Already a world superstar, this could be Scott's greatest games yet.

Triathlon hope

Beth Potter

Potter is a great hope in the triathlon this year but made her Team Scotland debut back at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune, where she competed in Athletics over 1500m and 3000m.

She competed at Glasgow 2014 and Rio 2016 in the 10,000m, before becoming the first Team Scotland athlete to compete across two sports in the same Games, running the 10,000m in after completing the Triathlon individual event and team relay at the Gold Coast in 2018.

She then began to focus purely on triathlon and won gold at the 2019 European Championships.

The 30-year-old had an outstanding 2021 with two seventh place finishes in the World Triathlon Series and back to back victories in World Triathlon Cup events in South Korea and is primed for the games.

Elsewhere...

Para-sport events have been included in the Games since 2002 and Scotland have have medal winners in there.

Athlete Libby Clegg and cyclists Neil Fachie and Aileen McGlynn are all hoping to medal, having previously been crowned Paralympic champions.

If none of that takes your fancy, perhaps basketball, beach volleyball, gymnastics, hockey, rugby sevens or wrestling will!

Don't forget you can keep up to date with all of the latest online and click here if you would like to find out more about the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

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