Awesome Aussies to watch at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games

Australia is expected to break records with an insane gold rush at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games — but some will be bigger than the rest.

Shayna Jack Instagram image of Ariarne Titmus, Ella Ramsay, Shayna Jack, Mollie O'Callaghan and Jenna Forrester - Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022

Birmingham is going to get outrageous.

Australia is looking to break records with an insane gold medal rush at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and it sadly means that many of our athletes’ mighty performances will be buried in the avalanche.

While they will all be worth watching, there are some events Aussie sports fans simply can’t miss — even with the unfriendly timezone difference forcing those Down Under to set their alarms depressingly early to watch the best of action.

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It says everything that you can take it to the bank that Australia will win the required 66 gold medals to become the first country to achieve a total of 1000 gold medals in the history of the Commonwealth Games movement.

Some astute judges are even predicting Australia will challenge the haul of 80 gold medals won at the 2018 Games on the Gold Coast.

Once again the majority of the headline-grabbing performances are expected to come in the pool — coming off a bonkers performance of 28 gold medals and 73 total medals on the Gold Coast.

The list of must-watch athletes for the Birmingham Games has to start with Aussie star Ariarne Titmus, who captivated the entire country with her performances at the Tokyo Olympics last year.

Ariarne Titmus

Titmus has some real competition in teen freak Summer McIntosh in the 400m freestyle. The 15-year-old Canadian is seen as a future superstar. For now at least though, Titmus’ real battle will be against the clock.

The world was denied the dream re-match between Titmus and American legend Katie Ledecky when Titmus decided to skip the recent World Championships to focus on her Commonwealth Games campaign.

Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus talks with coach Dean Boxall in Birmingham. Photo by Michael Klein.

After Titmus dethroned Ledecky at the Tokyo Games, the American won at the World Championships last month, but with a time that was well short of the world record effort of 3:56.40 that Titmus smashed at the Australian Championships in May.

Emma McKeon

Still being celebrated as Australia’s greatest ever Olympic athlete following her heroics at the Tokyo Games, McKeon is now expected to cement her place in the history as the most successful Commonwealth Games athlete of all time.

McKeon, who’s won eight gold medals and 12 medals overall, is poised to break the record held by swimming greats Susie O’Neill, Ian Thorpe and Leisel Jones — who share the record with 10 career gold medals.

Shooter Phillip Adams holds the Australian record for overall medals with 18.

McKeon is competing in eight events in Birmingham.

Peter Bol

Peter Bol is hungry to prove the excitement surrounding him is not undue after a disappointing campaign at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon last week.

After finishing fourth in the men’s 800m at the Tokyo Games, Bol was seventh at the World Championships with a time that was more than 1.5 seconds outside his personal best.

With several of the best 800m runners in the world — including Kenya’s top-ranked runners — missing the Games, Bol is considered a very real gold medal chance.

Kookaburras

The Kookaburras are ranked number one in the world and have won every Commonwealth Games men’s hockey gold medal since hockey was introduced to the competition in 1998.

With the added motivation of their heartbreaking penalty shootout loss to Belgium in the gold medal game at the Tokyo Olympics, the Kookaburras are expected to join the gold rush in Birmingham.

The Kookaburras are hunting for gold. (Photo by Luis Acosta / AFP)

Cody Simpson

The pop star turned swimmer enters Birmingham with his private life making more headlines than his performances in the pool — but that could all change at the Commonwealth Games.

The 25-year-old — who has previously been romantically linked to celebrities like Miley Cyrus and Gigi Hadid — embarked on a new path nobody saw coming when he returned to the pool in 2021 after a 10-year break from competitive swimming.

Initially eyeing off an Australian berth at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Simpson is ahead of schedule. His remarkable swim to place third in the 100m butterfly behind Matt Temple and Kyle Chalmers at the recent National Championships was enough to secure him a spot on the Commonwealth Games team.

Eleanor Patterson

Eleanor Patterson stunned the world by becoming the first Australian to win the women’s high jump gold at the World Athletics Championship last week.

The 26-year-old recorded a personal best of 2.02m, equalling the Oceania record, becoming just the 10th Australian to win a gold medal at the World Athletics Championships.

Patterson’s unbelievable comeback follows her decision to walk away from the sport after missing out on selection for the 2018 Commonwealth Games team. It’s easy to forget the 26-year-old also won gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Rohan Browning

The 24-year-old has long been Australia’s great hope in the blue ribbon 100m event that decides the fastest man on the planet. He missed out on a spot in the final at the Tokyo Games by just 0.09 seconds, but was unable to get past the heats at the World Championships earlier this month.

Rohan Browning was below his best in Oregon. Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images.

Big things are expected in Birmingham where Browning is expected to challenge for a medal if he can reach his goal of becoming just the second Australian ever to run under the magic 10 second mark.

Alana King

The red-hot leg-spinner has the cricket world in a spin.

King has been a revelation since making her international debut against England in January. Cementing herself in a team that is almost impossible to break into, King’s deadly variations will be one of captain Meg Lanning’s trump cards as the Aussies compete for cricket’s inaugural gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.

Full schedule for Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

The opening ceremony will kick off at 8pm local time on Thursday July 28 (for Aussie fans, that’s 5am AEST on Friday July 29). The closing ceremony will bring things to an end on August 8 in Birmingham — or the early hours of August 9 Down Under.

A full schedule of events for the Commonwealth Games can be seen below.

That’s one jam-packed schedule.