Top 5 International Players to keep an eye on at the upcoming CWG 2022

 International Players to keep an eye on at the upcoming CWG 2022

Birmingham is shaping up to stage the 22^nd Commonwealth Games. In a week, 5054 competitors from 72 CWG Associations will flood the Alexander Stadium for the inauguration ceremony.

They will participate in 280 disciplines covering 20 sports. The competition will take place from July 28^th through August 8^th. Olympic winners, sporting icons, upcoming superstars, and world-class teams will all compete in the quadrennial tournament.

Here are 5 international players to keep an eye on at the upcoming CWG 2022,

 

LAURA MUIR (Scotland, Distance Runner)

Laura Muir is a distance runner from Scotland. She won the silver medal in the 1500 m at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after coming seventh in the final in the 2016 Rio Olympics. She has four top-five finishes in the World Championships 1500 m finals, achieving 5^th in 2015, 4^th in 2017, 5^th in 2019, and 3^rd in 2022.

Muir earned her international debut in 2011 at the European Cross Country Championships, where she was a member of the gold-winning Great Britain junior women’s squad. She was nominated for the Daily Record Young Athlete of the Year accolade at the conclusion of the year.

She competed for Great Britain in the 800 m at the 2013 World Athletics Championships, entering the semi-finals with a career-best time of 2:00.83. She broke Yvonne Murray’s 27-year-old Scottish record in the 1500 m in 2014 in the Diamond League competition in Paris.

Laura is a two-time medalist at the 2018 World Indoor Championships, claiming silver at 1500 m and bronze at 3000 m. She is also the 2018 European 1500 m champ, a four-time European Indoor gold medalist, and a 2017 and 2019 1500 m/3000 m double winner.

Muir successfully broke the British 1500 m best in 2016. She recorded the current world benchmark of 3:54.50 in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics, establishing her in the top 15 all-time.

In 2017, she smashed the European indoor benchmarks for 1000 m and 3000 m, as well as set a British milestone for indoor 5000 m. Muir set the British record for 1000 m in 2020, and the following year she shattered the Scottish record for 800 m in 1:56.73. Her best mile timing of 4:18.03 positions her in the world’s top 20 all-time. She has also claimed the Diamond League 1500 m crown twice.

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SAM WEBSTER (New Zealand, Cyclist)

Sam Webster is a track cyclist who specializes in a multitude of sprint events. His resume includes a gold in the men’s race at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in 2009. The same year, he won gold medals in sprint, Keirin, and team sprint at the Junior World Championships in Moscow.

He ascended to the elite level after winning the Junior World Championships. Webster is a part of the New Zealand sprint squad, which has steadily improved in the World Championships, rising from bronze in 2012 to silver in 2013 and gold in 2014.

Sam is a three-time team sprint world champion and Olympic silver medalist. After sweeping seven medals, notably four golds in the team sprint and individual sprint in Glasgow and Gold Coast, the quintessential high-performance competitor will compete in his fourth Games. 

 

ANDRE DE GRASSE (Canada, Sprinter)

When one thinks of Andre De Grasse, the term “speed” springs to mind. De Grasse, a six-time Olympic medalist, is the reigning Olympic 200 m winner and also won silver in the 200 m event in 2016.

In 2020, he earned his second silver medal in the 4 x 100 relay. He also holds three Olympic bronze medals, having finished third in the 100 m in both the 2016 and 2020 Games, as well as the 4 x 100 m relay in 2016.

He won the Pan American Games twice and the NCAA championships in the 100 and 200 meters. At the 2015 World Athletics Championships in Beijing, De Grasse took bronze in the 100 m and the 4 x 100 m relay. At the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, he also captured bronze in the 100 m and silver in the 200 m.

He holds the current Canadian record in the 200 m category, clocking a 19.62 in Tokyo to become the 8^th fastest man in history.

De Grasse is the first Canadian speedster to win three Olympic medals in the same event. His achievement eclipsed the two medals obtained by Canadian runners Donovan Bailey and Percy Williams in a single Olympics. The gold medal triumph at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was Canada’s first in field events in 25 years and it’s first in the 200 m in 93 years.

De Grasse, a constant podium winner, has won a medal in each and every Olympic and World Championship final in which he has contested.

 

MATTY LEE (England, Diver)

All eyes in Birmingham will be on Matty Lee, who captured an Olympic gold medal alongside Tom Daley in the men’s synchronized 10 m platform discipline in Tokyo. The 24-year-old was given the MBE for his contributions to the sport. This year, he also won silver in the World Championships in Budapest, pairing for the first time in an international tournament with Noah Williams.

Lee qualified for his first European Junior Championships in 2012. He won gold on the 3 m springboard and then participated in the World Junior Championships later in the summer.

At his second European Junior Championships in 2013, Lee won medals in all three Group B individual events, retaining his 3 m crown and collecting silver in 10 m platform and bronze in 1 m springboards.

He made his senior debut in the 2014 World Cup series. He was chosen to partake in the 2014 Commonwealth Games; however, he had to withdraw due to an injury. Lee won gold in the 10 m platform event at the maiden European Games in Baku in 2015, defeating Russia’s Nikita Shleikher. He has also won the European Junior Championships twice.

He claimed silver in the mixed 10-meter synchronized platform discipline at the 2017 World Championships and bronze in the 10 m synchronized event with Tom Daley in the 2019 World Championships.

 

ARIARNE TITMUS (Australia, Swimmer)

Ariarne Titmus, one of swimming’s brightest superstars, astonished her homeland with her triumph in the Tokyo Olympics. She won the 400 m freestyle final defeating famed swimmer Katie Ledecky and created an Olympic record in the 200 m freestyle final.

Titmus established a new world record and won gold in the women’s 400 m freestyle contest at the 2018 FINA World Swimming Championships with a speed of 3:53.92, topping Wang Jianjiahe’s benchmark set two months earlier by 0.05 s. At this championship, she claimed another gold medal in the 200 m freestyle and two bronzes in relay races.

At the last Commonwealth Games, the 22-year-old won four medals. She will seek to increase her dominance on the summit in the 200 m, 400 m, and 800 m freestyle categories, as well as the 50 m backstroke.