The 11th edition of the World Games are set for Birmingham, Alabama. The event, which brings together more than 3,500 athletes, is scheduled to run from 7-17 July after being rescheduled from 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With 223 medal events across 34 sports, there’s sure to plenty of excitement in the American city.
Here’s a look at the event, including the stars and sports, the schedule of events, and how to watch right here on Olympics.com.
07 - 17 Jul
The World Games 2022 | Birmingham
World Games 2022 – Birmingham: Stars and sports to watch
In inline speed skating, 2022 Winter Olympic gold medallist Bart Swings of Belgium is set to take part. The speed skating mass start Olympic champion has won seven World Games medals, including four gold.
Several other Olympic champions will also be in action as part of the karate competition, including Sandra Sanchez, Jovana Prekovic, Ryo Kiyuna, Steven Dacosta, Feryal Abdelaziz, Sajad Ganjzadeh, Ivet Goranova, and Liugi Busa.
The event boasts several other Olympic and Youth Olympic medalists including Monica Abbot (USA, softball), Gabriela Schloesser (NED, archery), Brady Ellison (USA, archery), Nonaka Miho (JPN, sport climbing), and Nakarai Shigeyuki (JPN, breaking).
Newly crowned European rhythmic gymnastics champion Daria Atamanov of Israel highlights the gymnastics competition. In Birmingham, six gymnastics disciplines (acrobatics, aerobics, parkour, rhythmic, trampoline, and tumbling) will take center stage.
Veteran powerlifter Fukushima Yukako of Japan will make her sixth World Games appearance in 2022 in the lightweight division. Fukushima owns two silver and two bronze medals at the event.
Another exciting sport to keep an eye on will be men’s lacrosse, which is making its World Games debut in 2022. The event will feature the Iroquois team, which will become the first squad to represent an indigenous ethnic group at the Games.
Several other sports and disciplines are either participating in the World Games for the first time or making their return after time off the program. The sport program additions are, kickboxing, softball (first appearance since 1985), while drone racing (air sports), canoe marathon (canoe), breaking (dance sport), parkour (gymnastics), men’s lacrosse, and mixed team tug of war are recent disciplines added to the schedule.
Men's & Women's Mass Start - Speed Skating | Beijing 2022 Replays
World Games 2022 - Birmingham: Competition schedule
The World Games begin Thursday, 7 July 2022 with the Opening Ceremony at the new Protective Life Stadium.
Competition runs 8-17 July, with the Closing Ceremony set for 17 July.
The complete World Games competition schedule is available on the official World Games website.
World Games 2022 – Birmingham: How to watch action on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com
The Olympic Channel will provide full coverage of the event on Olympics.com, including a 24/7 stream and individual sport feeds.
We'll also have feature interview and news articles here on the website, and on @Olympics social media channels.
In addition, fans in the United States have several viewing options including one-hour highlight shows each day on CBS Sports Network and streaming coverage through Paramount+.
German TV channel Sport1 will also be broadcasting more than 100 hours of action to viewers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
World Games Gymnastics: Great Britain win men's group final, Kaden Brown and Melania Rodriguez claim gold in trampoline events
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All 14 of the competition venues for the Birmingham 2022 World Games have been announced, with 34 sports and approximately 3,600 athletes anticipated.
The Protective Stadium will host the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 40th anniversary of the Games due to open on July 7 and conclude on July 17.
The Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex will stage danceSport, gymnastics, bowling, korfball, floorball, powerlifting and billiards, while archery will take place at Avondale Park.
Inline hockey, artistic roller skating, speed skating, wheelchair rugby, lifesaving, finswimming and canoe polo will all take place at Birmingham Crossplex, with waterskiing, wakeboarding, the canoe marathon and middle distance orienteering hosted by Oak Mountain State Park.
Sprint relay orienteering will take place at Railroad Park, alongside the duathlon, while Sloss Furnaces hosts sport climbing, dancesport (breaking), parkour, which is a part of the gymnastics event and beach handball.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham will host lacrosse, racquetball, squash, tug of war and boules sports.
Flying disc will take place at John Carrol Catholic High School, softball will be at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex and flag football, which will be included on the World Games programme for the first time, will be hosted at Legion Field.
Drone racing, another new sport, and canopy piloting will take place at Barber Motorsports Park and Birmingham Southern College will host fistball, sprint orienteering, karate, wushu and ju-jitsu.
Finally, sumo, kickboxing and Muaythai will take place at the Boutwell Auditorium.
"All of these venues offer a unique experience to both fans and competitors," said World Games 2022 chief executive Nick Sellers.
"These locations were carefully selected as the best Birmingham has to offer, and we’re excited for them to host the best ever edition of The World Games."
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Birmingham 2022 World Games
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