And it's also a multi-sport festival. The Aussies take it seriously particularly in swimming.
Correct. Ariarne Titmus skipped world championships in 2022 to focus exclusively on the Commonwealth Games. Kyle Chalmers and Emma McKeon did the same thing.
It worked out for Titmus. She defeated the 15 year old prodigy Summer McIntosh at 400 and set the record for fastest 200 relay split ever as Australia broke the world record.
McIntosh recently destroyed Titmus' 400 world record by more than a second. Titmus is taking the year off. It's very possible that they will meet for the first time since Paris in the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
If so, those races will be heavily anticipated, albeit not to the same degree as Ledecky vs McIntosh at 800 meters later this summer in Singapore. That matchup will be more intriguing and potentially more long term GOAT implications than any Olympic race from Paris.
The 1974 Commonwealth Games was one of the best track meets ever.
I remember watching the 1990 Commonwealths as a teenager. There were lots of great races, including that 5000m with Ngugi's fall and Lloyd's sprint to win. It got me really interested in distance running as youngster.
Depends on the specific event. The ECs and CGs are historical championships and gold medals in either will be more highly prized by participating athletes than the Diamond League.
I typically view Commonwealths as a “snoozefest,” no more than higher-level practice for more serious events. Not to say that strong times NEVER arise from such conditions, only that it’s a generally lackluster meeting with historical significance keeping it alive.
The decision to put slow acoustic guitar to hype up the 'standout' race was a choice. I've never wanted more to drive a truck to an empty field and drink a beer with a dog than watching a few seconds of this video.
The title of this thread should be 'is there a more underrated championships than the Commonwealth Games'
This is arguably the wildest 5000m race ever run at a championship.
For those that haven't seen the full race, Ngugi (the reigning OC) falls just after 800m after Jack Buckner clips him towards the back of the field and they both go down. They get up and are probably 12-15m of the pack but 'Gugs has no plans to work himself back into the race slowly, he probably runs the equivalent of a 60 as he catches up and hits the front less than 400m after he fell.
He then reels off 61.97 and 61.91 second laps which blows open the race - but he slows down enough so that Paul Williams and Mark Rowland (yes of OTC fame) catch and go with him which ultimately cost them big time in the final 600m. He surges away again just before 3000m (7.59) and opens up a 20m gap that he holds al the way to the bell. 300m to go it's 15m, 200m to go it's 10m. The rest is history including Steve Moneghetti's legendary and classic "LLOYDY!" as Lloyd explodes off the final curve and runs him down - catching him with 10m to go and passing him cleanly with 3m to go.
Only a 13.24 race but it would be hard to find one with more craziness than this that ended in an incredible and classic last lap "run down".
What an atmosphere! Could you imagine an American meet pulling a crowd like that for anything that's not the Olympics? Wouldn't happen. Coincidentally they're always the ones sh-tting on the Comm Games while complaining that no one turns up to track meets in the US.