³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games medals have been unveiled.

The gold, silver and bronze medals all feature a design that's meant to symbolise the road and canal network that is famous in the West Midlands.

The design was made by three students from Birmingham's School of Jewellery.

Roads and canals are an important part of the region's history and the industrial revolution - a time when the manufacturing of goods moved to large factories and products were transported across the country.

Dozens of students at the school of jewellery entered the competition to design the medals and the final three combined as a team to create the design of the medals, ribbons and boxes.

The medals also have textured elements that can be felt when touched to make them more accessible for athletes with a visual impairment.

"We really thought about the athletes when designing the medals - the connection between athletes and the journey they go on to achieve their dream of standing on top of the podium," lead designer Amber Alys said.

A total of 1,875 medals will be produced for the first, second and third placed athletes in the Games, organisers said.

Hannah Cockroft, a seven-time Paralympic champion, is hoping to compete in her first Commonwealth Games and said she's hoping to get her hands on one of the medals this summer.

"Now that I have seen how beautiful the medals are, I'm even more focused on winning one this summer," she said.

The 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham will begin on 28 July with eight para-sports included among the events.