The quadrennial event that opens Thursday in Birmingham will be the first multi-sport international meet to host more medal events for women than for men, and is running in tandem with its largest ever para sport program.
There’ll be 136 gold medals awarded to women, 134 on offer for men, and 10 in mixed events when the 11-day Commonwealth Games, which started out in 1930 as the British Empire Games, is staged in England for the third time.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce could be lining up for one of them, just weeks after she won the 100 meters at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
The 35-year-old Jamaican, a five-time world champion in the 100 and three-time Olympic gold medalist, has never claimed an individual gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.
Fraser-Pryce led a medal sweep for Jamaica in the 100 at the world championships in front of Shericka Jackson and Elaine Thompson-Herah. She finished second to Jackson in the 200, with Dina Asher-Smith of Britain taking bronze to prevent a back-to-back sprint sweep for Jamaica.
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