Olympic Champion Alistair Brownlee showed his class at the ITU World Triathlon Stockholm to win the fifteenth World Triathlon Series race of his career and put himself at the top of the world rankings with just the PruHealth World Triathlon Grand Final London remaining. Jonathan Brownlee finished third and David McNamee was tenth.
After establishing himself as part of a small breakaway group on the bike, Alistair escaped from the leaders in the final stages. The twisty, technical bike course with a steep cobbled climb on each of the ten laps allowed Alistair to make a surprise attack on the bike and ride away to a 20 second lead at the start of the run.
Typically it was younger brother Jonathan and Olympic silver medallist, Javier Gomez (ESP) who set out in pursuit of Alistair on the run. They initially closed the gap slightly but the grimace on Alistair’s face told a story of determination to win.
Draped in a union flag, Alistair crossed the line first as Javier Gomez completed his final ascent of the cobbled hill that featured on the bike course and four times on the run. He had edged away from Jonathan Brownlee in the latter stages of the race.
Alistair Brownlee commented: “I did all I could to win. I knew my running wasn’t quite where I wanted it to be so I had to do a bit of something on the bike.”
Looking ahead to the Grand Final, he added: “It’s fantastic to be returning to London. Obviously it’s a course that is very fond to me now and to be honest, this year, I never in a million years thought I’d be in a position to win a world title.
“It’s been a year of absolute disasters and a bit of a slow one after last year so I couldn’t be happier.”
Jonathan Brownlee is now ranked second in the world following his third place finish today, and is still in contention to win the world title if he can beat Alistair in Hyde Park.
He said: “Third is good but it was a really hard race. Beating him [Alistair] in Hamburg was about worst thing I’ve ever done. He’s cycling incredibly well and he knew he could do that and he’s that kind of athlete, he’s incredibly brave so fair play to him.”
Commenting on the fact that he, Alistair and Gomez are all in contention to win the world title he said: “It makes it interesting of course it does, the person who is first wins the title, that’s what a series should be all about. It’s been a good series and it’s all coming down to London now.”
David McNamee finished in tenth place, commenting: “I’m happy, it was good, top ten is a good marker, it’s certainly a lot better than finishing 11th. The GB camp in St Moritz came at a perfect time for me to focus and get back where I belong, inside that top ten.”
British Triathlon Performance Director, Brendan Purcell, was pleased with the depth of results this weekend.
He said: “Along with the podiums we showed a little more depth with the results. Five in the top twenty in the women’s and three in the men’s top ten is what we’re looking for with the programme, and if it wasn’t for Adam Bowden’s crash today we could have had more.”
The focus now turns to London, and he added: “We have athletes who are in reach of the world titles as well as delivering on the day. The real focus for the rest of the guys is for them to produce their best performance of the year.”
The PruHealth World Triathlon Grand Final London takes place 11-15 September. With home crowd advantage the Great Britain team has the opportunity to recreate the magic of last summer’s Olympic triathlon in Hyde Park where Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee memorably won gold and bronze medals.
The free-to-view event will also feature Britain’s junior, U23 and elite paratriatheltes, as well as amateur athletes racing for world titles in their Age Groups.
ITU World Triathlon Stockholm Results:
1. Alistair Brownlee, GBR, 1:43:13
2. Javier Gomez, ESP, 1:43:27
3. Jonathan Brownlee, GBR, 1:43:50
10. David McNamee, GBR, 1:46:23
35. Matthew Sharp, GBR, 1:49:52
DNF Mark Buckingham, GBR
DNF Adam Bowden, GBR
