Blake and Jake are headed to Birmingham

For any athlete growing up in Australia,  the Commonwealth Games is a big deal. For Aussie Para swimmers Blake Cochrane and Jake Templeton it’s official, they've earned their spot on the team headed to Birmingham.

Blake is set to be the first Australian Para swimmer to ever compete at the Commonwealth Games on 4 occasions. In Delhi Blake collected bronze in the S8 100m Freestyle, in Glasgow he won bronze in the SM8 200m IM, and on the Gold Coast in 2018 he improved on his medley effort to claim silver as well as swimming up a classification to win bronze in the SB8 100m Breaststroke. Not once has his pet event, the SB7 100m Breaststroke, featured at what is coined the Friendly Games. For Blake, however, success has still prevailed.

At this year’s Birmingham Games he has qualified in the Men’s SB8 100m Breaststrroke, meaning once again he will be swimming “up a class”. He will be competing against those who have a less severe impairment than he does. This is nothing new for Blake, who has been faced with similar obstacles throughout his swimming  career. On the Gold Coast, Australia claimed the clean sweep in this event, so big things may be in store in Birmingham as well.

Jake Templeton hasn’t had the easiest road these past few years, however he is back on the Australian Team and ready to make his mark. A Paralympian and World Record holder, Jake is one of the more experienced members of the Dolphins Para Team, and was in fact the first Tasmanian named to the 2022 Commonwealth Games Team, too.

In 2019 Jake missed qualification for the World Championships by 3-tenths of a second, and last year actually qualified for Tokyo but was not taken. “I like to look back at past disappointment, and forward to future aspirations, to fuel my fire. I’m stoked to be back on the team but I don’t just want to make it, I want to stand on the podium,” he said.

The Birmingham Games will be the first to feature the vision impaired classifications, with the token event being the S13 50m Freestyle. In what is sure to be a hot field, Jake will have his work cut out for him, but is up for the task. “I’ve been really honing my race skills for the 50, because I’m aware of how important the little things are in a dash.”

Home of Ozzy Osbourne and the Netflix series Peaky Blinders, Birmingham will certainly put on a show and these two want a piece of it. Follow Blake, Jake, and the rest of our F-Teamers who have recenntly qualified for the Games in the lead up to Birmingham!