10 stars to watch out for at the Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games is set to get underway with a spectacular opening ceremony in Birmingham this evening.

News of home favourite Dina Asher-Smith’s decision to withdraw through injury has done little to dampen the anticipation with record ticket sales anticipated.

Here Metro.co.uk picks out 10 stars to follow over the course of what promises to be an exciting forntnight…

The king of swimming’s breaststroke aims to defend his 100metres title and upgrade his 50m silver from four years ago just a month after missing the world championships with a broken foot. The 27-year-old triple Olympic champion already has six Commonwealth medals in his possession, with three of them gold.

If you’re Scottish, you won’t want to miss the 1500m finals on the track. Wightman, 28, aims to follow his stunning world gold for Great Britain recently by becoming Commonwealth champion. Meanwhile, world and Olympic medallist Laura Muir is among the favourites in the women’s race.

After a third-place finish at the Tour de France earlier this month, Thomas will not be resting on his laurels as the 36-year-old looks to add to his two Commonwealth road cycling medals from Glasgow 2014.

The five-time 100m world champion has incredibly yet to win a solo Commonwealth title, with just the one 4x100m relay gold eight years ago. However, she is in scintillating form having just taken 100m gold, 200m silver and relay silver in Eugene.

Our golden girl of the velodrome, winner of five Olympic golds, only returned to the track in April, the 30-year-old having suffered a miscarriage in November and then an ectopic pregnancy in January. Husband Jason, winner of seven Olympic gold medals, will be a Team England coach in Birmingham.

The 30-year-old swimmer will tie