Alistair Brownlee retained the title he won so elegantly in 2009 with victory in Beijing on Saturday. His younger brother, Jonathan, finished second behind him in the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series and Will Clarke was ninth, ensuring that the GE Great Britain Triathlon Team goes well positioned into the Olympic year.
It was a classic Brownlee performance with Jonathan leading out the swim, despite his goggles having come off, and Alistair in second behind him. They were aggressive on the bike and darted onto the run, instantly opening up a gap over everyone else. Alistair took the win with time to enjoy the crowd, just as he did in Hyde Park five weeks ago.
Alistair was too strong for the rest of the field, including Jonathan, who dropped off the run pace and was caught by Switzerland’s 2004 Olympic medallist, Sven Riederer in the closing stages. Bronze in the race was, however, enough to secure silver overall in the world championships standings.
On winning the world title for the second time in his career, Alistair Brownlee commented: “It’s nice to do it twice and show it’s not a fluke. I think that’s my 11th world series win so I’m racking them up, which is good as well.
“I think this has been my best year. 2009 might look better on paper, but I think this year has been better. I’ve had better races, I’ve had a few dodgy ones on the way, but I think my best races have been really good and it was great to finish it off here today.”
Jonathan Brownlee already has his mind on 2012, he said: “I feel good because I’m second in the world now, but the Olympics do seem a long way away. I hope I’ve done enough to get selected.
“It’s been a long hard season, so I need to get home and have some rest and get ready for next year.”
Will Clarke was ever present at the front of the bike leg, but faded slightly through the run. He finished 15th but secured a top-10 place in the overall series standings and underlined Britain’s strength and depth with less than a year until the Olympic Games.
Defending world champion Javier Gomez finished sixth, which was enough to secure third overall in the Series. However, Olympic champion, Jan Frodeno stopped after the swim, having been caught on the back of the head. Tim Don was unable to start having not recovered from illness in time for the race.
Britain’s Todd Leckie was 32nd and Adam Bowden 40th.
In the women’s U23 championship Britain’s Non Stanford and Lois Rosindale were sixth and eleventh respectively. Lucy Hall led the junior women’s race but was knocked off her bike when a stray dog ran into her front wheel.
The women’s senior race takes place tomorrow at 6.30am (UK time). Helen Jenkins will win the world title if she can finish on the podium. The men’s junior race also takes place tomorrow.
Elite men’s results
1 Alistair Brownlee GBR 1:48:07
2 Sven Riederer SUI 1:48:14
3 Jonathan Brownlee GBR 1:48:17
4 Dmitry Polyansky RUS 1:48:20
5 Laurent Vidal FRA 1:48:24
15 Will Clarke GBR 1:49:28
32 Todd Leckie GBR 1:50:49
40 Adam Bowden GBR 1:51:49