ALISTAIR Brownlee has his sights set on a prestigious hat-trick at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

The Olympic champion will head the England triathlon team along with his brother Jonny, who won bronze in London two years ago.

Alistair, from Bramhope, said: "I've been fortunate enough to win the Olympic and world titles and this might be my only chance to compete at the Commonwealths, so it's obviously very important.

"I've had a good couple of weeks of training and I'm just trying to train harder to be in the best shape in Glasgow. We'll be working as hard as we can to maximise our chances.

"It's definitely nice to have a chance to race somewhere different. I've raced in London a lot of times. I've had some great races and some not so great ones.

"And it's just nice to have another major championships. It comes at the right time in my career."

The individual races will be held in Strathclyde Country Park on July 24, with the mixed relay – featuring two men and two women – making its Commonwealth Games debut two days later.

The Brownlee brothers have dominated the sport, along with Spain's Javier Gomez, over the last five years but this season has been difficult for the Bingley Harriers duo.

Alistair once again struggled with injury at the start of the season, which ended his hopes of trying to compete in the 10,000 metres on the track in Glasgow as well as the triathlon.

He finished fourth on his return in Yokohama and in the same position in Hyde Park last month while, having been well beaten in the first two races by Gomez, Jonny has only managed fifth in Japan and London.

It was the first time in four years Jonny had finished a race not on the podium.

Alistair said: "It's been really tough so far. I was terrible in Yokohama but I felt a bit better in London and I've moved up a step since then."