Triathlon at the Rio 2016 Olympics: All you need to know

The sport in brief

Swim, bike, run - in that order. Men and women compete over the same distances: a 1500m open water swim, 41.6km bike ride and 10km run. The transition between each discipline is critical - crucial time can be gained or lost by the speed at which an athlete changes clothes or equipment.

British prospects

Rather good. The men's team features the Brownlee brothers - Olympic champion Alistair and 2012 bronze medallist Jonny. Even their designated support act, Gordon Benson, is the 2015 European Games champion.

The women's squad is similarly strong with two former world champions - Non Stanford and Helen Jenkins - plus a Commonwealth Games team gold medallist in Vicky Holland.

Who are the favourites?

Alistair Brownlee is unbeatable on his day but has had an injury-disrupted few years since London. The Spanish team is stacked with talent despite the withdrawal of five-time world champion Javier Gomez because of a fractured elbow.

America's Gwen Jorgensen is the two-time reigning world champion and her incredible running ability makes her untouchable if she is in contact heading into the final discipline. Helen Jenkins inflicted a first defeat on the American in nearly two years in April.

I didn't know that

Crawling during the run section can result in a time penalty, perhaps in part due to the 1997 Ironman World Championship, which featured a crawl for the finish line.

Previous British medallists

Two (one gold, one bronze)

Most recent British gold

2012 - Alistair Brownlee

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