Alistair Brownlee won the Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds with an emphatic display on the course that he helped design. Jonathan Brownlee won silver to seal a successful event that was watched by crowds of thousands on the streets of Leeds and a global TV audience.
In their hometown, the pressure was on for the Brownlee brothers to deliver in front of crowds bigger than anyone had seen at a triathlon since London 2012. Even with the ITU World Champion and Olympic silver medallist, Javier Gomez (ESP), in the race, they achieved the dream result in convincing fashion.
A hard swim in Waterloo Lake at Roundhay Park was followed by a determined Alistair Brownlee bursting through the first transition and up the hill. Jonathan was able to join him but the field had been blown apart by the pace. Just Aaron Royle (AUS) and Aurelien Raphael (FRA) were able to join and ride with them into the city and around seven tight and technical laps.
Jonathan Brownlee was the first to break out of the second transition, but he was soon caught and left behind by Alistair. Looking in his best form since last year at the ITU World Triathlon London, the Olympic Champion ran through the 10km looking smooth, strong and in control.
He said: “Thank you Leeds! The people absolutely made it today. We had support like I’ve never known it.
“The first bit out of Roundhay was a key part of the course. On that long drag, we just went for it. I had to wait a bit for Jonny, but after that there was just three or four of us absolutely going for it.”
He added: “I think we’ve shown that Leeds loves sport; that’s by far the best World Series crowd there’s ever been. I know split transitions are a tricky thing to get right, but my god it’s worth it.”
Jonathan was happy with to seal the dream result with silver, he said: “You’re always going to struggle to beat Alistair on a day like that. He’s that good, especially on a hard course.
“I wanted to slap as many hands as I could in the crowd, but I was just too tired. The race was simply incredible. To have all those thousands of people watching round the course was a dream come true.”
Gomez was quick to compliment the brothers, saying he wasn’t strong or smart enough at the key moment in the race.
Adam Bowden achieved one of his best his best ever results in seventh place, commenting: “I’m over the moon. I got off the bike and just thought ‘run as hard as you can’ and I was up with Gomez.”
The next round of the ITU World Triathlon Series takes place in Stockholm, 2-3 July before Britain’s Olympic athletes head to St. Moritz for a block of altitude training in preparation for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Results; ITU Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds; 1500m swim, 40km bike, 10km:
1. Alistair Brownlee, GBR, 1:49:27
2. Jonathan Brownlee, GBR, 1:49:59
3. Aaron Royle, AUS, 1:50:33
7. Adam Bowden, GBR, 1:51:56
20. Tom Bishop, GBR, 1:53:56
29. Gordon Benson, GBR, 1:55:19
Event website: http://leeds.triathlon.org
