Team England Commonwealth Games 2022: Full rundown of all the athletes from Birmingham who will be competing

As Birmingham limbers up for the starting block that is the 2022 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony this week, a raft of local athletes will be representing not only Team England this year, but Birmingham itself.

Here’s a full list of those local athletes who will be competing during this year’s Commonwealth Games.

The Birmingham athletes competing at the Commonwealth Games 2022.

Niall Francis-Farrell

Event: Boxing

Career Highlights:

• Silver - European Championships 2017

Niall Francis-Farrell travelled to Tokyo as a sparring partner last year, but knows now is the time to take centre stage himself. He already has a European silver medal from 2017 under his belt before a tendon injury put his career on hold for three years.

Stacey Francis-Beyman 

Event: Netball

Career highlights:

• Gold - Fast5 Netball World Series, 2011
• Silver - Fast 5 Netball Series 2010, 2012
• Bronze - Commonwealth Games 2010, Netball World Cup 2011, Netball World Cup 2015

The Birmingham-born baller will go into her home games off the back of five seasons in Australia with West Coast Fever where she has reached two Grand Finals.

Off the court, Francis-Bayman is married to fellow baller Sara Bayman and is a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ representation, and is an ambassador for charity Pride House Birmingham.

Joe Fraser

Event: Gymnastics

Career achievements:

• Gold - World Championships 2019 (Parallel Bars)
• Silver - World Championships 2018 (Team)
• Bronze - World Championships 2021 (Pommel Horse)

Joe Fraser was born with six fingers on each hand before having the additional digits removed as a baby. He discovered flips aged five, forcing his mother to pack him off to gymnastics to learn how to do it properly.

Fraser won World Championship gold on the parallel bars in 2019, the first and only Brit to do so on that apparatus, before finishing fourth at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the team event.

Elliot Giles 

Event: Athletics

Career achievements:

• Bronze - European Championships 2016
• Bronze - Athletics World Cup 2018

Eight-time British champion Elliot Giles competed at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics before launching his own electric bike company after his dad made a miraculous recovery from Covid-19.

Christopher Griffiths 

Event: Hockey

Career achievements:

• Bronze - Commonwealth Games 2018
• Bronze - EuroHockey Championships 2017

Part of the bronze medal team on the Gold Coast in 2018, Chris Griffiths is known as one of the nicest people in hockey.

The forward has well over a century of international caps and after cruelly missing out on Rio Olympics in 2016 and the 2018 World Cup through injury, the 31-year-old became an Olympian last summer.

Layla Guscoth

Event: Netball

Career achievements:

• Bronze - Netball World Cup 2019

Layla Guscoth is an inspiration to many, having displayed her wide array of talents and skills since she burst on the scene while studying medicine at St John’s College, Oxford between 2010 and 2013.

On the netball court, she represented England at under-17, under-19 and under-21 levels, captaining both the under-17 and under-21 squads, before making her senior international debut in 2012 against Jamaica.

She took time out from her international career between 2015 and 2018 to focus on becoming a doctor.

Myles Hesson 

Event: Basketball

Career achievements:

• eurobasket.com All-German 2.Bundesliga Pro A Forward of the Year

Myles Hesson has had a career that has taken him all over the globe, but now returns home to represent his country.

The 6ft 6in forward has played basketball in England, France, and Germany and currently plays for Japanese side Saga Ballooners.

But it is on much more familiar ground that Hesson will compete this summer as he makes his Commonwealth Games debut.

Sarah-Jane Perry

Event: Squash

Career achievements:

• Gold - World Team Championships 2014
• Silver - Commonwealth Games 2018, World Team Championships 2016, 2018, World Doubles Championships 2022

Hailing from Warwickshire, few can call Birmingham 2022 a ‘home’ Games in quite the same way as Sarah-Jane Perry.

She still trains at her home club in Kenilworth and kept it local in her choice of university - Warwick.

Perry has used the West Midlands as a platform to conquer the squash world and has been England’s most consistent performer on the female side of the sport for a decade.

Jaswant Shergill 

Event: Weightlifting

Career achievements:

• Team GB selection, 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Shergill has had to wait patiently to make his second Commonwealth Games appearance. He was still studying when he made his debut in 2014, finishing 11th, but the teacher had to sit out the 2018 Games with an injury.

Shergill bounced back to win the –67kg category at the British Championships in 2019 before finishing fourth at the same event earlier this year.

The 29-year-old regularly takes his medals back into school for a shiny edition of Show and Tell, but this summer his pupils may get to cheer him on in person.

When will the Birmingham athletes compete at the Commonwealth Games 2022?

You can follow the Birmingham athletes in their respective events from the following dates.

• Athletics: July 30 - August 7 2022
• Basketball:  July 29 -  August 02 2022
• Boxing: July 29 - August 7 2022
• Gymnastics: July 29 - August 6 2022
• Hockey: July 29 - August 8 2022
• Netball: July 29 - August 8 2022
• Squash:  July 29 - August 8 2022
• Weightlifting: July 30 - August 3

A full schedule of all events can be found by visiting the official website of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.