10,000m track race walk replaces 20km road event at the Commonwealth Games

The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games medal programme has been published, confirming that there will be 59 medal events in athletics at the competition taking place from July 28 to August 8.

It will be the first major multi-sport event to award more medals to women than men across the whole programme, while in athletics the number of events are even with 29 men’s events and 29 women’s events as well as a mixed 4x100m para athletics universal relay (table below).

The para athletics programme also sees the inclusion of the T33/34 100m, which will give star wheelchair racers such as multiple Paralympic medallists Hannah Cockcroft and Kare Adenegan the chance to compete at a Commonwealth Games for the first time in their careers.

In the race walk events, a 10,000m track race walk replaces the 20km road event, with the programme change designed to give athletes such as England’s 2018 20km race walk silver medallist Tom Bosworth and world junior 10km race walking champion Callum Wilkinson the chance to compete at more than one major championships during a busy 2022 summer.

Athletes will race on the track at the redeveloped Alexander Stadium.

The daily schedule for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games was released last week, when it was announced that track and field action will start on day five of competition as organisers aim to attract athletes eyeing a summer treble.

READ MORE: Birmingham 2022 schedule has athletics treble in mind

With the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games postponed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the World Athletics Championships in Oregon has also been delayed and will now take place on July 15-24, 2022, while athletics at the European Championships in Munich is scheduled for August 15-21.

In order to give athletes as much time as possible to recover after the global event, organisers have the first day of track and field taking place on August 2.

The Birmingham 2022 medals milestone is being marked on October 21 with a day of special talks entitled “It’s Our Time”, broadcast on the Birmingham 2022 Facebook and LinkedIn pages, and featuring past, present and future stars of British sport.

Hosted by Olympic 400m medallist Katharine Merry, the event brings together several generations of female athletes, including multi-event pioneer Lady Mary Peters, who won Commonwealth pentathlon gold in 1970 and Olympic gold in 1972, plus five-time Paralympic champion Cockroft and two-time Commonwealth triple jump gold medallist Ashia Hansen.

Dame Louise Martin, president of the Commonwealth Games Federation, said: “It is very special that the Commonwealth Games will be the first major multi-sport event in history with more medals for women than men.

“It will also be the largest ever integrated para sport programme which will ensure that Birmingham 2022 will be a truly historic, inclusive and unforgettable 11 days of sport.

“We remain on track to host one of the world’s greatest sporting competitions and deliver a Games that will leave a lasting legacy for Birmingham, the West Midlands, the country and the Commonwealth.”

On Wednesday it was also confirmed that the BBC has secured the exclusive rights to broadcast the 2022 Commonwealth Games to audiences across the UK.