Competition in the sport is due to begin tomorrow at Sutton Park in Sutton Coldfield with men's and women's races in the sprint distance discipline.

This features a 750 metres swim phase, 20 kilometres bike leg and 5km run to decide the Commonwealth Games champion.

Bermudan Dame Flora prevailed in the women's event at Gold Coast 2018, holding off England's Jessica Learmonth by 43 seconds.

She staved off a challenge from Briton Georgia Taylor-Brown by more than one minute to claim gold at last year's delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Taylor-Brown, competing for England at Birmingham 2022, is expected to provide a challenge to Dame Flora, with Scotland's Beth Potter also likely to be in contention.

Dame Flora said that she feels in better shape than anticipated.

"I feel excited to race," the 34-year-old commented.

"I am fitter than I thought I would be as I've had COVID twice and struggled with fatigue coming off the Olympics.

"I'm looking forward to a really great race with Georgia.

"We went gold and silver at Tokyo a year ago and here we are again."

England's Alex Yee starts as the men's event's favourite competing on home turf at his first Commonwealth Games.

The 24-year-old won individual silver at Tokyo 2020 in British colours, and has won two World Triathlon Championships Series events this year.

Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Hayden Wilde of New Zealand has also won twice on this year's Series.

At the event in Leeds in June, Wilde apologised after causing a crash which led to Yee being unable to finish and his compatriot Jonny Brownlee being ruled out of Birmingham 2022.

Yee and Wilde are set to make it a tough ask for South Africa's Henri Schoeman to earn back-to-back Commonwealth Games gold medals.

Sunday (July 31) is set to feature Para triathlon events, with the visually impaired category making its debut at the Commonwealth Games, also competing in a 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run route.

World champion Dave Ellis of England enters the men's race as the favourite.

He has won seven of his eight competitions since October 2019, and is looking for success after he was unable to finish at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics due to a broken bike chain.

Australia's Jonathan Goerlach is among his rivals for gold.

Scotland's Alison Peasgood, a silver medallist for Britain at the Rio 2016 Paralympics, headlines the women's vision impaired line-up, with World Championships bronze medallist Jessica Tuomela also among the likely contenders.

Triathlon competition is due to conclude on Sunday with the mixed team relay.

Two men and two women comprise the mixed relay teams, with each athlete completing a 250m swim, 7km bike ride and 1.5km run.

Australia won gold in the mixed relay at the Commonwealths four years ago, but four English athletes featured on the winning British team at Tokyo 2020.