This summer will see the seventh edition of the Commonwealth Youth Games take place in Trinidad & Tobago, with Team England’s young athletes set to be at the heart of the action.
Trinbago 2023 will bring together more than 1,000 young athletes aged 14-18, from Nations and Territories across the Commonwealth, competing in seven sports.
Ahead of the big kick-off, here’s all you need to know…
When are the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games?
Trinbago 2023 runs from August 4-11, with an opening ceremony on August 4 and closing ceremony on August 11.
Exact session timings remain to be confirmed in some sports but the current schedule can be viewed here.
Which sports are included?
The 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games programme will include aquatics (swimming), athletics and para athletics, beach volleyball, cycling (road and track), FAST5 netball, rugby sevens and triathlon.
Team England will be competing in four of the seven sports – swimming, athletics and para athletics, beach volleyball and FAST5 netball.
Trinbago 2023 is the first Commonwealth Youth Games to include para athletics on the programme, three male and three female para-athletics events part of the schedule.
When did the Commonwealth Youth Games start?
The inaugural Commonwealth Youth Games took place in 2000, when Edinburgh played host.
Eight sports were part of the programme on that occasion and Team England claimed top spot in the medal table, with 36 golds and an overall tally of 95.
Since then, the Games have been held in Bendigo (2004), Pune (2008), Isle of Man (2011), Apia (2015) and Bahamas (2017), with Team England also topping the medal table in 2011 and 2017.
Which stars have competed before?
The Commonwealth Youth Games have provided a launchpad for some household names over the years.
Swimming star Tom Dean won seven medals in the pool at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, becoming the most successful English athlete at a single Games. He had previously earned success at the Bahamas 2017 Youth Games, winning gold in the 200m individual medley and silver over 400m.
Dina Asher-Smith (Athletics), the fastest British women in history and multiple medal winner at the Olympics, World and European Championships and Commonwealth Games, took home two gold medals from the Isle of Man in 2011 in the 200m and 4x100m relay.
Jazmin Sawyers was part of the same relay team and she showed her versatility by also claiming gold in long jump, in which she went on to win senior European medals in 2016 and 2022.
Beach volleyball’s Bello brothers, Joaquin and Javier, made history in Birmingham last summer, winning Team England’s first ever Commonwealth Games medal in the sport, five years after they claimed Commonwealth Youth Games gold in the Bahamas.
The Birmingham medal spree was started by Alex Yee, who claimed men’s triathlon gold, to continue a proud record at Commonwealth level which began when he competed solely as a runner at Samoa 2015, when he claimed 3000m bronze.
Alicia Wilson claimed four swimming medals in the Bahamas five years ago, while Mason Wilby won two, and both also represented Team England at Birmingham 2022.