The 2022 Commonwealth Games took place in Birmingham, England, from July 28th to August 8th, 2022. Canada finished third overall behind Australia and England with a total of 92 medals; 34 bronze, 32 silver, and 26 gold. Sixteen Ontario athletes competed on Team Canada in the athletics and para-athletics events. Seven exciting days of athletics events took place throughout the games.
The event kicked off to a great start with Josh Cassidy, the 38-year-old, crossing the finish line just one place away from the podium. Cassidy finished fourth in the T53/54 marathon, completing the race in a time of 1:47.47.
Wednesday was a big success. Sarah Mitton won Canada’s first athletics medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Mitton brought home gold in the women’s shot put with a final throw of 19.03m. Moments later, Zachary Gingras won the T37-38 100m final, finishing in 11.65 with a 0.18-second PB!
On Friday, we saw more action from Cassidy, who finished fifth in the T53-54 1500m final in a time of 3:25.20. On Saturday, Ontario athlete Jillian Weir won bronze in the Hammer Throw, throwing a third-round toss of 67.35m to win the medal. Brendon Rodney crossed the line in fifth with a time of 20.65 in the men’s 200m final. Shortly after, the women’s 200m commenced, and Natassha McDonald took to the blocks: McDonald was able to tie her season’s best of 23.21 and finished seventh overall.
The final day of competition was not one to miss. Ontario ladies Natassha McDonald and Kyra Constantine joined forces with Aiyanna Stiverne and Micha Powell in the women’s 4x400m. The group brought home first place after an interesting race which originally crowned England as the champions (3:25.83) with Canada in second (3:25.84) until it was revealed that England was disqualified for a lane violation, making Canada the 4x400m champions!!! Ontario athlete Zoe Sherar who was supposed to compete in the women’s 4×400 relay was unfortunately unable to compete after testing positive for COVID-19.
Lucia Stafford finished 11th in the 1,500m final in a time of 4:13.83, an impressive finish after her battle with COVID-19. Julie-Anne Staehli ran her first 5,000m since last summer’s Olympic Games finishing, finishing 15th and stopping the clock at 15:39.23.
