Birmingham, Jul 29 (IANS): Home favourite Alex Yee has won the first gold medal of the 2022 Commonwealth Games, taking victory for England in the men's triathlon here on Friday.

Yee chased down Hayden Wilde to clinch victory in 50 minutes 34 seconds, beating the New Zealander by 13 seconds with Australia's Matthew Hauser three seconds further back.

Wilde had been hit by a 10-second penalty, which cost him dear, after leading heading into the 5km run.

Yee described his win as "my greatest achievement ever", adding, "It's the first time I've been able to race in front of my parents for a long time at a major Games."

"I'm just happy. It's bizarre it's me that's doing this and I can feel extremely grateful to be in this situation. I feel proud to be a triathlete today, to see so many different nations who I've never raced before and who are doing triathlon for the first time.

"It's just wicked. Really proud of the guys in my team, they helped me," he said.