Andre De Grasse, Pierce LePage and others withdraw from Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games, scheduled to run July 28 to August 8 in Birmingham, U.K., will be missing some notable Canadian athletes. Andre De Grasse, Jerome Blake and Aaron Brown, who were all on the gold-medal-winning 4 x 100m team last week at the World Athletics Championships, will be staying home; Pierce LePage, who won silver in the decathlon on Sunday, has also decided to pull out of competition.

Athletics Canada released a statement about the athletes’ decision Tuesday morning, stating: “These athletes have had a challenging World Championships in hot weather conditions and unfortunately must withdraw from the 2022 Commonwealth Games to properly recover and prepare for the rest of the season.”

Two of Canada’s other world championship medallists, Camryn Rogers (who won silver in the hammer throw) and Brendan Rodney, the fourth member of the 4 x 100m relay team, will still compete, along with 28 other track and field athletes. Canada’s Olympic champion decathlete, Damian Warner, had to pull out of his event at the world championships after injuring his hamstring; he also will not be going to Birmingham.

Long-distance wheelchair racing competitor Josh Cassidy will be racing on the para-athletics side. Cassidy was awarded bronze in the 1,500m at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and has won both Boston and Los Angeles marathons. He’ll be one of Canada’s flag-bearers at Thursday’s opening ceremony, before competing in the marathon on Saturday, and against fellow Canadian Alexandre Dupont in the 1,500m.

The Commonwealth Games will begin on July 30 at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham and end with the women’s and men’s 4x400m relay on Sunday, Aug. 7. Aside from the marathons, the track and field events take place Aug. 2-7. You can see the full list of athletes on Canada’s 2022 team here.

Live coverage of the full competition will be available on CBC.