World 200m champion and Commonwealth relay champion to race over 100m and 4x100m in Birmingham

Dina Asher-Smith headlines an incredibly strong England team for this summer’s Commonwealth Games.

The world 200m champion won’t race over the half-lap distance but will take on both the 100m and 4x100m, the latter of which she won Commonwealth gold at Gold Coast in 2018.

World heptathlon champion Katarina-Johnson Thompson will look to defend her Commonwealth title while Olympic 800m silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson will get a taster of a home championships for the first time. She will just race over 800m and is not part of the 4x400m team.

Olympic bronze medallist Holly Bradshaw finished fourth at the last Commonwealth Games in Australia four years ago but after winning a medal from Tokyo, she will be confident of going at least one better in Birmingham.

Fellow Olympic bronze medallists Daryll Neita and Imani-Lara Lansiquot will have that same mindset and they both race in the 100m and 4x100m.

Lorraine Ugen was part of the 4x100m team that won gold at Gold Coast but this year she focuses on the long jump, in which she won bronze at the recent World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, as did Marc Scott in the 3000m. Scott will be doubling up in the 5000m and 10,000m along with Sam Atkin and Patrick Dever.

Max Burgin was still at school when London 2012 was on and the 20-year-old will now get to experience the feeling of a 32,000 strong home crowd at the newly developed Alexander Stadium in Birmingham. He went fourth on the UK 800m all-time list after running the fastest 800m by a Brit, 1:43.52, since 1990 at Paavo Nurmi Games on June 14.

Max Burgin take a bow ?

The 20-year-old wins the 800m @paavonurmigames in an astonishing 1:43.52, the fastest by a Brit since 1990 ??

Only Seb Coe, Steve Cram and Peter Elliott have gone quicker. #ContinentalTourGold ?? pic.twitter.com/MotkgWsw1k

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) June 14, 2022

A resurgent Matthew Hudson-Smith is the sole English male 400m entry but the current European champion has already broken Iwan Thomas’ 25-year-old British 400m record this year after clocking 44.35 at the Pre Classic on May 28.

“It’s a great honour to be selected. It’s my third Commonwealth Games selection and I think this one means the most especially as it’s a home championship,” Hudson-Smith said.

“It will mean a lot to be able to compete at home in front of friends and family and represent England again. I’ve been training at the Alexander Stadium since I was ten so it will be quite an emotional rollercoaster for me, but with all the training and the experiences that I’ve gone through I feel like I am a lot more prepared than I’ve ever been. It’s going to be fun, exciting, scary but I am looking forward to it!”

The team picked consists of 72 athletes which means that the full squad is 93 when you account for the 21 para-athletes nominated.

Triple Olympic heptathlon medallist and Commonwealth Games champion Kelly Sotherton, is Team Leader for the athletics team at Birmingham 2022, and is excited by the prospect of a home championships.

“It is an honour to lead a strong and inclusive team of 93 athletes into a home Commonwealth Games,” she says.

“As important are the 25-team staff that are supporting the athletes at Games time. The athletes that have been selected have worked extremely hard to get into the team where there are genuine medal opportunities across all events. With a busy summer of championships, our aim is to ensure we support each athletes’ ambitions to perform at home, in front of friends and family, for the first time since 2019.

“It is very exciting now, with 36 days remaining until the start of the Games, the build-up within the city and the sport is ramping up. I am looking forward to watching familiar faces and new ones emerge in the biggest event here since London 2012.”

Full team:

WOMEN

100m: Dina Asher-Smith, Imani-Lara Lansiquot and Daryll Neita

200m: Daryll Neita

400m: Victoria Ohuruogu, Ama Pipi and Jodie Williams

800m: Alex Bell and Keely Hodgkinson

1500m: Katie Snowden

5000m: Jess Judd, Amy-Eloise Markovc, Calli Thackery

10,000m: Samantha Harrison, Jess Judd and Amy-Eloise Markovc

Marathon: Georgina Schwiening

3000m steeplechase: Lizzie Bird and Aimee Pratt

100m hurdles: Cindy Sember

400m hurdles: Jessie Knight and Lina Nielsen

High Jump: Emily Borthwick, Morgan Lake and Laura Zialor

Long jump: Jazmin Sawyers and Lorraine Ugen

Triple jump: Naomi Metzger

Pole vault: Holly Bradshaw, Molly Caudery and Sophie Cook

Shot put: Sophie McKinna, Divine Oladipo and Amelia Strickler

Discus: Jade Lally and Divine Oladipo

Hammer: Anna Purchase

Heptathlon: Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Holly Mills and Jade O’Dowda

4x100m: Dina Asher-Smith, Desiree Henry, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, Daryll Neita and Asha Philip

4x400m: Jessie Knight, Laviai Nielsen, Lina Nielsen, Victoria Ohuruogu, Ama Pipi and Jodie Williams

MEN

100m: Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake and Reece Prescod

200m: Adam Gemili and Zharnel Hughes

400m: Matthew Hudson-Smith

800m: Max Burgin (Ian Burgin, Halifax Harriers) and Ben Pattison

1500m: Elliot Giles and Matt Stonier

5000m: Sam Atkin, Patrick Dever and Marc Scott

10,000m: Sam Atkin, Patrick Dever and Marc Scott

Marathon: Jonny Mellor

10km race walk: Tom Bosworth and Callum Wilkinson

3000m steeplechase: Zak Seddon

110m hurdles: Tade Ojora, Andrew Pozzi and Joshua Zeller

400m hurdles: Chris McAlister

High Jump: Joel Clarke-Khan

Triple jump: Ben Williams

Pole vault: Harry Coppell, Adam Hague and Owen Heard

Shot put: Scott Lincoln

Discus: Lawrence Okoye

Hammer: Joseph Ellis,  Nick Miller and Craig Murch

Decathlon: Harry Kendall

4x100m: Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, Jona Efoloko, Adam Gemili, Zharnel Hughes, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake and Reece Prescod