Team Scotland ones to watch at Birmingham 2022: Commonwealth Games medal hopefuls

With England set to host the Commonwealth Games for the first time since 2002 in Manchester, the city of Birmingham is eagerly awaiting next week’s opening ceremony.

The Games are scheduled to kick off with the ceremony on Thursday 28 July 2022 at Alexander Stadium, with Duran Duran headlining in their hometown.

Following Thursday’s dramatics, the first of the sporting events will take place the following day and is set to run through until Monday 8th August.

Each of the 72 teams have named the athletes that will represent them in Birmingham over the next few weeks, with Scotland revealing a 254-strong team across 20 sports.

After collecting their second-highest medal tally of 44 in 2018, here are some of Team Scotland’s biggest stars that will be vying for more success in Birmingham...

Laura Muir - athletics

Laura Mir is a Scottish middle and long-distance runner and will be competing in her second Commonwealth Games this month.

The 29-year-old missed out on Gold Coast in 2018 to concentrate on her vetinary medicine exams, however big things are expected of her this time round.

Since her first appearance in Glasgow 2014, Muir broke Kelly Holmes British 1500m record with a time of 3:55:22 and went on to finish seventh at the Olympic Games in Rio.

She became the first British woman to won the 1500m title at the 2018 European Championships, before defending her 1500m and 3000m titles at the 2019 European Indoor Championships.

Perhaps most spectacularly, she set a Scottish 800m record last year before going on to break her own British 1500m record to win silver at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Josh Kerr - athletics

Josh Kerr is a 24-year-old Scottish middle-distance runner who primarily competes in the 1500 metres.

After being crowned the European Junior Champion in 2015, Kerr finished sixth in the World Championships four years later.

The former University of New Mexico student found great form over the past year, recording the fastest 1500m time ever run on US soil with a PB of 3:3:55 last June.

He then became the first British man since 1988 to win an Olympic medical in the 1500m, smashing his PB to win bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.

His time of 3:29:05 was a new Scottish record and was less than quarter of a second away from Mo Farah’s British record.

Mark Dry - athletics

Mark Dry competes in hammer throw and will feature in his third Commonwealth Games this summer.

The England-born athlete claimed his first bronze medal at Glasgow 2014, before replicating his performance at the Gold Coast 2018 and picking up Team Scotland’s first Athletics medal of the tournament.

Dry’s success in Australia was even more impressive as two lots of hip surgery in the lead up to the Games meant he was on crutches only four months before the Commonwealth Games.

Katie Archibald - cycling

Kate Archibald is a Surrey-born athlete that represents both Scotland and Great Britain in endurance track cycling events.

Archibald grew up in Glasgow and represents Scotland in the Commonwealth Games, with this summer’s edition set to be her third.

The 28-year-old has won both World and Olympic gold, setting a World record in the Team Pursuit in every round at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

After picking up her first bronze medal in the 2014 Games, Archibald went onto win gold in the Individual Pursuit, silver in the Points Race and recorded two 4th place finishes in the Scratch Race and Road Time Trial at Gold Coast.

Since her spectacular performance in Australia, Archibald has added four gold and four silver medals at the European Championships to her resume.

Neil Fachie & Matt Rotherham - cycling

Neil Fachie and Matt Rotherham are aiming for another near flawless performance in Birmingham after picking up two gold medals in the Time Trial and Sprint at Gold Coast, setting World and Games records in Sprint qualifying and a Games record in the Time Trial.

Fachie also previously won gold in both events at Glasgow with his former pilot Craig MacLean.

Fachie and Rotherham also won double good at the 2018 World Para-Cycling Track Championships, two weeks before their success at Gold Coast.

Duncan Scott - swimming

After winning a silver medal in Glasgow eight years ago, Duncan Scott became Scotland’s most decorated athlete at a single Games and the first Scottish swimmer to win gold in the 100m Freestyle when he claimed a whopping six medals (one gold, one silver, four bronze) at Gold Coast.

The 25-year-old has continued to improve since then, earning two gold and three silver medals at last year’s European Championships, before going onto become the first British athlete ever to win four medals at a single Olympic Games with gold and three silver at Tokyo 2020.