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07/09/2023 00:00, In Blog / Club Notice Board / Track & Field / Commonwealth Games /

On Saturday, Team Wales hosted the Commonwealth Youth Games homecoming at the Royal Mint Experience in Llantrisant. 

2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, Bethan Davies led the celebrations, she was joined on stage by Trinbago athletes Storm Evans, Tomi Roberts-Jones and William Bishop to share their experiences of the Games. 

The athletes all received commemorative Team Wales Commonwealth Youth Games medallions from the Royal Mint for their participation in the Games, presented by the Deputy Minister Dawn Bowden and Rebecca Morgan, the Royal Mint’s Division Director. 

To round off the celebrations, Duke al Durham a Spoken Word Poet, Author, Rapper and Creative Practitioner performed a piece that was created about the athletes and their success at Trinbago 2023.  

Overall, Athletics enjoyed a brilliant Games in Trinbago returning with two medals and plenty of action. 

History was made on the first day of athletics competition in Trinidad as Tomi Roberts-Jones (DSW Para Academy) took gold in the men’s T38 100m to win Wales’ first para gold medal in Commonwealth Youth Games history. Fellow Team Wales athlete, William Bishop (DSW Para Academy) finished fifth with 14.46 seconds, improving on his personal best time set in the heats. 

In the men’s 100m, both Joseph Berry (Newport Harriers) and Lewis Stephens (Cardiff Athletics) progressed to the semi-finals. In semi-final 1, Berry finished fourth with a time of 10.95. Whilst Stephens competed in the third semi-final, finishing fifth with a time of 10.94. 

On the same day, in the women’s long jump final Jessica Lee (Carmarthen & District Harriers) was in action. Lee finished fourth overall registering a distance of 5.87m.  

In the first of the throw's events for Team Wales, Mia Lloyd (DSW Para Academy / Carmarthen & District Harriers) made history to become the first para-athlete to represent Team Wales at a Commonwealth Youth Games. Lloyd finished fourth in the women’s F42-44/F61-64 discus final, registering a best distance of 14.83m. Also taking to the track that day was Zico Jones (Shaftesbury Barnett) in the men’s 400m semi-final. Jones finished fifth with a time of 51.16 seconds 

On day two Joseph Rees Gara (Wigan & District) finished eighth in the men’s 1500m final with a time of 3:55.05, just shy of his personal best performance set earlier this season. 

In the women’s discus Storm Evans (Carmarthen & District Harriers) finished fourth registering a best distance of 40.75m. In the first round, the Carmarthen & District Harrier threw 40.12m to open her competition and followed up with 40.75m in round two. Evans threw 39.51m, 39.14m and 39.36m in the remaining rounds and registered a no throw in round four. 

On the penultimate day of competition for athletics, team captain Joseph Berry (Newport Harriers) also progressed to the final in the 200m registering a new personal best in the process. The Newport Harrier finished seventh in the final with a time of 22.16 seconds, whilst Sophie Lisk (Cardiff Archers) took to the track in the women’s 100m hurdles and finished fifth in the final with a time of 14.00 seconds exactly. 

On the final day of competition in Trinidad, William Bishop (DSW Para Academy) claimed bronze in the men’s T38 long jump to become the first Welsh para-athlete to win a field medal at a Commonwealth Youth Games. Bishop opened his competition with a jump of 4.28m and in the third round the athlete jumped a personal best distance of 4.44m to secure his spot in the bronze medal position. Teammate, Tomi Roberts-Jones (DSW Para Academy) opened his competition with 4.19m, he went on to top clear all six attempts, but his first-round jump kept him in fourth position. 

A huge congratulations to all eleven athletes, you made Wales very proud and set a positive standard for the year ahead.