Commonwealth Games: when to watch Canada’s best track medal hopes

All eyes will be on Damian Warner, Mohammed Ahmed and Crystal Emmanuel in the coming week, as Canada’s athletes compete for medals on the track at Carrara Stadium in Australia. The Commonwealth Games started Wednesday on Australia’s Gold Coast, south of Brisbane.

RELATED: Commonwealth Games: How (and when) to watch

Warner, 28, who won bronze in the decathlon in Rio, will defend his 2014 Commonwealth Games title on the Gold Coast. Based in London, Ont., last month he narrowly missed gold in the heptathlon at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, U.K., winning the 1,000m but falling just short of the 3.13-second margin needed to take the title over France’s Kevin Mayer, who won by a mere five points overall.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bf6VbVqHI9w/?taken-by=damian.warner

Tune in to DAZN to watch the decathlon, which gets underway with the 100m Sunday, April 8 at 8 p.m. EDT or 5 p.m. PDT. (Note: CBC Sports is not providing continuous coverage.)

St. Catharines, Ont. native Mohammed Ahmed, also 28, had a fantastic year in 2017, breaking the Canadian two-mile record (8:13.16), then the Canadian indoor 5,000m record (13:04.6), among other accomplishments. (Only Mo Farah, who is arguably the greatest 5,000m and 10,000m runner in history, has done better in both.)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BdYOVEdDECY/?taken-by=moh_speed23

Ahmed capped off the season with one last record, the outdoor 3,000m, taking away one of those held by the great Kevin Sullivan, running 7:40.49 in Croatia. 

Fans can watch Ahmed contest the men’s 5000m (run as a straight final), starting at midnight Saturday, April 7 EDT, 9 p.m. PDT. 

Last year at a meet in Ireland, Canada’s Crystal Emmanuel, 26, broke the Canadian record in the 200m, a record that had stood for more than 30 years. Raised in Barbados and training in Scarborough, Ont., Emmanuel debuted at the London Olympics in 2012 and made it as far as the semifinals in Rio in 2016. 

She is beautiful, She is confident, She is strong, She is powerful, She is humble, She is brave, She is limitless, She is grateful to be a WOMEN. Happy international women’s day. ??????#internationalwomensday #girlpower #queenbeast pic.twitter.com/49pmiClH5H

— crysy emmanuel? (@CrystalEmm91) March 9, 2018

The women’s 200m heats start Monday, April 9 at 10:20 p.m. EDT or 7:20 p.m. PDT. 

Viewers should consult the competition schedule for more on competition times.