Brownlee, Brownlee, Brownlee
It seems that there is currently no stopping of Alistair Brownlee. On his home turf in London, UK, the 21-year old Brownlee won his fourth Dextro Energy ITU World Championship Series race in as many attempts.
Just like in the women's race, a group of 12 formed a lead pack in the opening 1,500 meter swim in London's Hyde Park. This group contained Brownlee, current world champion Javier Gomez and the younger Brownlee, Jonathan. The 12 worked quit well together and created an almost 1 minute gap on a huge chasing field that contained most of the other pre-race favorites. A crash by Gomez after 30k though took the impetus out of the lead group and caused Gomez to withdraw from the race. Shortly after the remaining riders were swallowed up by the field and a massive group of almost 50 riders entered T2 together.
"I heard a big crash behind me and looked round but couldn’t see who it was, then Johnny [Brownlee, Alistair's brother] rode up to me and said it was Gomez," said Brownlee to ITU media. "I thought because there was a group catching us up that he might be able to get back in the race and catch back up, so I didn’t know he was out of the race until I was on the run."
For the first few miles of the run a few competitors managed to stay with Brownlee, but with about 2 miles left the young Brit surged away and ran towards his fourth Dextro Energy title. Steffen Justus finished in second place and Kris Gemmell rounded out the podium.
While Gomez will likely recover from scrapes and abrasions, WCS top contender Brad Kahlefeldt suffered a more serious injry in T2. "I was in the main lead pack off the bike positioned up the front in the group when running bare foot to my bike rack my foot got tangled in an athletes bladed spokes on his front wheel and sliced open my foot at the base of two of my toes," wrote Kahlefeldt in his blog. "I tried to keep running on it hoping the pain would subside but unfortunately the pain got worse and hit the deck pretty quick." Kahlefledt was then transported to St. Mary's hospital by ambulance , then transferred to another hospital for surgery and treatment for exposed tendons. After review by a specialist, said Kahlefeldt, the plastic surgeon decided against a skin graft and determined that there was no damage to the tendons. Kahlefeldt wrote that he could not compete next weekend in Yokahama and added that he would have to "wait and see" if he could compete in the WCS grand finale on the Gold Coast of Australia next month.
With this win, Brownlee leads the Dextro Energy World Championship Series points standings with a perfect 3200 points (800 each for his four best races), with Maik Petzold of Germany second with 2493 points, Steffen Justus of Germany third with 2388, Javier Gomez fourth with 2368 points obtained in only three race finishes, and Brad Kahlefeldt of Australia, (DNF in London) 5th with 2276 points, Kris Gemmell of New Zealand 6th with 2248, Laurent Vidal 7th with 2235, and Jarrod Shoemaker of the United States 8th with 2145.
Shoemaker, who stood 5th in World Championship Series points coming into London, joined fellow US competitors Steven Sexton and Kevin Collington in taking a DNF.
Mark Fretta was the top US finisher, taking 12th in 1:42:47, with Matt Reed 38th in 1:44:48, and Brian Fleischmann, who led several laps on the bike, finished 41st in 1:45:13.
On what was billed as a 2012 Olympic Triathlon course preview, Brownlee was listed as finishing a 10km run in 28:43 and Justus in 28:54. A total of 16 male competitors were listed as finishing the run under 30 minutes, with another 14 clocked at under 31 minutes. These times, similar to a short run course in Hamburg (best run 29:37) were more than a minute faster than the run courses in Tongyeong (fastest run 30:20) Madrid (30:31) Washington D.C. (30:26) and Kitzbuhel (30:36).
London Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series
London, UK / August 15, 2009
1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Elite Men
Elite men
1. Alistair Brownlee (GBR) 1:41:50
2. Steffen Justus (GER) 1:41:58
3. Kris Gemmell (NZL) 1:42:01
4. Sebastian Rank (GER) 1:42:01
5. Laurent Vidal (FRA) 1:42:16
6. David Hauss (FRA) 1:42:17
7. Courtney Atkinson (AUS) 1:42:24
8. Bruno Pais (POR) 1:42:27
9. Tony Moula (FRA) 1:42:29
10. Tim Don (GBR) 1:42:31
12. Sven Riederer (SUI) 1:42:41
13. Mark Fretta (USA) 1:42:47
16. William Clarke (GBR) 1:42:55
18. Daniel Unger (GER) 1:42:58
28. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 1:43:48
38. Matt Reed (USA) 1:44:48
41. Brian Fleischmann (USA) 1:45:13
45. Frederic Belaubre (FRA) 1:48:50
DNFs include: Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS), Javier Gomez (ESP), Jarrod Shoemaker (USA), Steven Sexton (USA), Kevin Collington (USA)
DQ: Bruno Pais (POR) missed one lap of run
Dextro Energy World Championship Series men’s standing
1. Alistair Brownlee (GBR) 3200 (4)
2. Maik Petzold (GER) 2493 (4)
3. Steffen Justus (GER) 2388 (4)
4. Javier Gomez (ESP) 2368 (3)
5. Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS) 2276 (4)
6. Kris Gemmell (NZL) 2248 (4)
7. Laurent Vidal (FRA) 2235 (4)
8. Jarrod Shoemaker (USA) 2145 (4)
9. Dimitry Polyanksy (RUS) 2045 (4)
10. Alexander Brukhankov (RUS) 2005 (4)
28. Mark Fretta (USA) 763 (4)
35. Andy Potts (USA) 633 (1)
38. Hunter Kemper (USA) 586 (1)
48. Matt Chrabot (USA) 438 (2)
59. Kevin Collington (USA) 262 (2)
66. Joe Umphenour (USA) 217 (2)
78. Matt Reed (USA) 173 (2)
