The 2022 Commonwealth Games took place in Birmingham, England from 28 July to 8 August 2022, marking the third time England has hosted the Commonwealth Games. The Games were the largest ever, with 72 countries participating and ticket sales of over 1.2 million. England achieved its best Games with 176 medals this year, 57 of them gold.  

At University of Leeds, we are extremely proud of all our staff, students and graduates for playing a role in helping to ensure that the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games were such an amazing success. Our very own Head of Sport Suzanne Glavin volunteered at the games as part of  the media team. She interviewed Paul Blanchard,Chief Executive of Team England and  alumni at the University of Leeds. He talked about his time at Leeds as a student and the important role Universities play in supporting young talented athletes in their sporting careers.

“We are here to win medals; we’ve won a lot so far” Paul said. 

Birmingham 2022 saw extraordinary performances from athletes from across the Commonwealth. But nothing delights us more than seeing our staff, students and graduates perform well, and here we have some hometown heroes: 

Sam Dickinson 

Sam justified his selection for team GB  by winning GOLD in the triathlon mixed relay! And not just satisfied in winning team gold he also helped his former Leeds housemate and training partner Alex Yee to gold in the individual event! It was an all-around amazing performance from the Leeds Graduate! 

Sam was cheered on in the crowd from his mum who cares for his grandma with Alzheimer’s. Sam who struggled to contain his emotion at the finish line said: 

“My mum doesn’t get to see me race and to see her in the crowd was stunning, it has been emotional to see her in the grandstand,” 

Jessica Fullager 

It was all gold at the games for Jess Fullager, a recent graduate student and a sports scholar at the University of Leeds as she and Team England teenager Katie Crowhurst claimed a famous victory in the women’s Paratriathlon. Jess Fullager acted as guide for the 18-year-old Katie as they claimed a famous gold at the games. 

Jessica after the race said about Katie 

“I think she’s got so much potential. We’re honest with each other and I think that what made us such a good team today. I’m just so lucky that Katie let me have this opportunity with her, so I’ll be forever grateful.”

Tyler Smith 

Sports scholar and triathlete Tyler is a Bermudan triathlete who frequently trains at The Edge. Tyler achieved a 13th place finish in the triathlon at the Commonwealth Games, hailing the best performance of his career to date. His previous best was 21^st.

He said:

 “To go from 21st to 13th has taken four years of hard work and the support of so many people. There is no medal for13th but to come out here and deliver a result is really special to me.”

Tyler suffered a foot injury and then broke his wrist just eight weeks before the Games, making his achievement even more special. We hope to see more from Tyler in future as he an inspiration and we are proud to say he is a University of Leeds Alumnus.