Commonwealth Games 2022: Northern Ireland's ones to watch in Birmingham

Northern Ireland won 12 medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. They won 2 golds in Glasgow four years earlier. Rhys McClenaghan is the defending pommel horse champion. Amy Broadhurst is a light-welterweight world champion and Bethany Firth is six-time Paralympic gold medallist. Northern Ireland are favourites for the Commonwealth games in Birmingham 2022.

Team Northern Ireland is preparing for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. They are hoping to win a medal.

Daniel Wiffen is a Northern Ireland swimmer. He holds the Irish men's freestyle records in 400m, 800m and 1,500m freestylers. Wifen will focus on the 1500m in Birmingham. At the World Championships in Budapest, he broke the 15-minute barrier in the freestanding.

Kate O'Connor is Northern Ireland's most successful heptathlete of all time. She won silver at the European Under-20 Championships in 2019. O’Connor's Tokyo 2020 hopes were derailed by injury. Last year she broke her own national record with a points total of 6,297 at Multistars event in Italy.

Eoin Fleming was 19 when he booked his place in a bronze medal match in Glasgow, but fell short against Jacques van Zyl. The Belfast judoka had already won the same match against the South African only a few months earlier. He was hoping to avenge the defeat at the Gold Coast, which was cancelled.

Carly McNaul is moving from 52 kg to 50 kg for the Commonwealth Games 2022. She won silver at the Gold Coast four years ago. Since then she has overcome a series of injuries including a broken femur, torn hand tendons and scars on her eye.