England's Alistair Brownlee has won gold in the past two Olympic triathlons. At the Commonwealth Games on Thursday, he won't have to swim, cycle or run quite as far in pursuit of a medal.

Brownlee's first-place finishes at London in 2012 and at Rio de Janeiro in 2016 — and in the last Commonwealth Games at Glasgow, in fact — came over the traditional Olympic distances of a 1.5-kilometer swim, 40-kilometer cycle and 10-kilometer run.

But this Commonwealth Games will feature the sprint distance —half of an Olympic event. So a swim leg of 750 meters, a 20-kilometer cycle and a 5-kilometer run.

Brownlee will likely appreciate the less-grueling distance — he's coming off hip surgery last August.

It came in a year when Brownlee was focusing on even longer events — in the Ironman 70.3 series. The 70.3 refers to the total distance covered in the race — a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile cycle and 13.1-mile run.

"My preparation hasn't been perfect and it was always going to be a challenge from having hip surgery last year, to racing middle distance in February and then being ready to race sprint distance," Brownlee said. "I am looking forward to racing on Thursday, and potentially Saturday as well in the mixed team relay. It will be a much smaller field than usual, which will mean there will be no room for any mistakes."

Alistair's brother Jonathan Brownlee, who won silver behind Alistair at Glasgow in 2014, and bronze medalist Richard Murray of South Africa, are also returning at the Gold Coast.

Triathlon will feature the first gold medal of these games, with the women's race expected to finish first. Favored in that race is two-time world champion Flora Duffy of Bermuda, who is seeking her first Commonwealth Games medal.

Duffy, ranked No. 1 in the world, and New Zealand's Andrea Hewitt, competed at both Melbourne in 2006 and Glasgow in 2014. Triathlon, as an optional sport, wasn't contested at New Delhi in 2010.

Duffy won six out of seven races in last year's World Triathlon Series.

"I did my first Commonwealth Games in 2006 when I was 18, and it was actually my first international-level race and very scary and daunting for me," Duffy said. "Now it's cool to come full circle and be a favorite."