Commonwealth Games Primer: Triathlon
3-sport medley tests endurance
An elective sport, triathlon makes its return after a one-Games absence in 2010.
Triathlon tests athletes' all-around skills and endurance by folding three distinct sports into one event. It starts with a 1,500-metre open-water swim, followed by a 40-kilometre road cycle and capped by a 10-km run.
These distances are shorter than the Ironman format of triathlon, which consists of a 3.86-km swim, 180-km cycle and marathon-length (42.2-km) run.
Glasgow will introduce a mixed relay event to the Commonwealth Games. Teams consists of two men and two women from the same country, with each athlete completing a "super-sprint" version of the swimming (400m), cycling (10km) and running (2.5k) legs before tagging off to a teammate.
The events will take place in and around Strathclyde Country Park on the outskirts of Glasgow.
Canadians to watch
Canada is sending three men and three women to Glasgow.
Victoria's Kirsten Sweetland, 25, finished third this month in Hamburg for her first ever World Triathlon Series podium. She has three top-10 results in the World Triathlon Series over the last year and has reached the podium in the World Cup, the under-23 world championships and the junior worlds. Winnipeg's Sarah-Anne Brault, 24, has three top-11 finishes in the World Triathlon Series this year and ranks seventh overall in the season standings. Calgary's Ellen Pennock, 21, finished second at the under-23 worlds last year.
On the men's side, Triathlon Canada will have its three athletes work as a team. Matthew Sharpe, a 22-year-old from Victoria who's considered a strong swimmer and cyclist, will try to influence the pack to make things easier on Ontarians Kyle Jones and Andrew Yorke. Jones, 29, placed 25th at the London Olympics and was the top Canadian in the Grand Final of the 2013 World Triathlon Series, placing 19th. He finished 15th at the London stop of the World Triathlon Series this year. Yorke, 25, was an Olympic alternate whose career-best finish in a World Triathlon Series event is 15th.