Alistair Brownlee claims second ITU World Championship
Alistair Brownlee has firmly stamped himself as the man to beat at the London 2012 Olympic Games, after capturing his second ITU World Championship title in stunning style on the 2008 Olympic triathlon course in Beijing.
In yet another dominating performance, Brownlee also kept his perfect Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Grand Final record intact in Beijing on Saturday.
After hitting T2 with a lead group of thirty, Brownlee turned in his trademark blistering run in cold and wet conditions in Beijing to win the Grand Final, with Sven Riederer just edging out Jonathan Brownlee for silver. Alistair Brownlee finished with a run split of 29 minutes, 50 seconds, even after stopping to high five spectators down the home straight.
But those results weren’t enough to shake up the overall 2011 ITU World Championship rankings as they stood before Beijing, with Alistair Brownlee claiming the overall world championship, Jonathan Brownlee the silver and Javier Gomez the bronze. Gomez finished sixth overall in Beijing.
In the end the conditions played perfectly for Alistair Brownlee, who stormed to wins in the wet in both Madrid and London this year, and said that as soon as he saw the tough conditions he was confident.
“When I woke up this morning and saw it was cold and wet, I just thought, ‘yes,’” he said.
“The swim was really easy…we came out first and second, then we knew the bike was dangerous so just really tried to keep in control. On the run, we were running and we got away and it was just like running through treacle today…then I knew (Jonny) wasn’t really great, you realise that when you train together every day. I wanted to keep him with me but I realised I should probably go on that last lap. So it was just great to cross the line really.”
The win was Alistair’s 11th in a Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series race.
Jonathan said he was happy to hold on for Grand Final bronze, and his first elite ITU World Championship medal after winning the Under23 World Championship last year in Budapest.
“It’s a real, real tough course here. It was a pure race, I was the first out of the swim, I didn’t actually really want to do that but a few people stopped swimming, so I thought ‘push on,’ he said.
“Then on the bike I thought we were going to get away there was that group of five and thought we were going to get away. I started the run pretty tired, then I felt alright in the first couple of laps, but then all of a sudden my legs just went completely.
“I’m really pleased I held on for third because could have quite easily given up, and thought oh this is a bad day, I’ll just come sixth or seventh. But it was a hard, hard race out there.”
Despite the cold conditions the race was quicker than the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the last ITU race to be held on the course. Jonathan Brownlee exited the swim first, minus his goggles, and quickly jumped to the front alongside his brother and Russian Alexander Brukhankov. But more than 30 athletes went with them and despite repeated attempts to breakaway, the lead group stayed the same for the six-lap 40km entirety.
A chase pack led by Chris McCormack cut the gap to 30 seconds halfway through, but that dropped out to 45 seconds on the final lap, leaving the lead pack with the only realistic chance to medal.
The Brownlees then jumped out to the lead quickly, but couldn’t get more than 10 seconds on a group that included Gomez, Riederer, Alexander Brukhankov, Dmitry Polyansky, David Hauss and Laurent Vidal until lap three. Alistair Brownlee made his move there, dropping Jonathan. Gomez and Riederer then bridged the gap, before Gomez just fell off the pace and Riederer stormed home to finish second.
Riederer surprised ITU commentator Barrie Shepley by saying he thought of him in the final finishing chute.
“It was so hard at the end, everyone was bunched together but I knew I had a really strong finish and I concentrated on the last 300 metres. I was thinking about you, because all the time you call me Mr Third, so today I am Mr Second,” Riederer said.
It also ended a string of bad luck for Riederer in Beijing.
“The first time, I broke my toe, the second time I lost my wedding ring in the lake and the Olympics was very bad for me but now I am second in the Grand Final.”
Russian Dmitry Polyanskiy finished fourth, enough to move him up to an overall world championship top 10 finish.
In other notable results, France finished with three athletes in the top 10 in the Beijing race, with Laurent Vidal fifth, David Hauss seventh and Vincent Luis eighth.
Elite Men
1. Alistair Brownlee GBR GB 01:48:07
2. Sven Riederer SUI CH 01:48:14
3. Jonathan Brownlee GBR GB 01:48:17
4. Dmitry Polyansky RUS RU 01:48:20
5. Laurent Vidal FRA FR 01:48:24
6. Javier Gomez ESP ES 01:48:27
7. David Hauss FRA FR 01:48:35
8. Vincent Luis FRA FR 01:48:44
9. Maik Petzold GER DE 01:48:46
10. Ivan Rana ESP ES 01:48:50
Rankings Men
1. Alistair Brownlee GBR GB 4285
2. Jonathan Brownlee GBR GB 3992
3. Javier Gomez ESP ES 3671
4. Sven Riederer SUI CH 3306
5. Alexander Brukhankov RUS RU 3208
6. David Hauss FRA FR 3157
7. Laurent Vidal FRA FR 2844
8. Dmitry Polyansky RUS RU 2764
9. William Clarke GBR GB 2495
10. Brad Kahlefeldt AUS AU 2217
see the video in
http://www.triathlon.org/news/article/alistair_brownlee_simply_stunning_to_claim_second_itu_world_championship/
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Alistair Brownlee, el atleta inagotable
El inglés, nuevo campeón del mundo con 23 años, abandonó la carrera de Medicina para dedicarse por completo al triatlón
ARANTZA COULLAUT - Madrid - 10/09/2011
Tiene 23 años y vive en Bramhope, un pequeño pueblo de Yorkshire (cerca de Manchester) junto a su hermano, el también atleta de triatlón Jonathan, y otros dos deportistas. Obsesivo y compulsivo con el deporte, inagotable porque disfruta con ello, Alistair Brownlee (Leeds, Inglaterra; 1988) se coronó esta madrugada como el nuevo campeón del mundo de triatlón en Pekín, título que ya consiguió en 2009 y que el curso pasado se lo arrebató el español Gómez Noya, tercero en la general de este año, justo por detrás del propio Jonathan. Alister, atleta con cara de adolescente y pecosa, se entrena los siete días de la semana y, como señaló en una entrevista al periódico The Guardian, no cree en el descanso. "Ni un solo día", puntualiza. Todas las mañanas, se levanta a las 6.30 de la mañana para cumplir una agenda que se repite cada jornada y solo se altera cuando hay competición.
Los lunes, corre 90 minutos, nada una hora, va al gimnasio otra y después termina la jornada con dos horas encima de la bicicleta. Los martes por la mañana nada cerca de tres horas y después corre y pedalea; por la tarde, sigue corriendo. El miércoles, tras una sesión más corta de natación que la del día anterior, corre 90 minutos y se va a montar en bicicleta tres horas. El jueves va a la piscina por la mañana, corre cerca de dos horas y dedica la tarde al pedaleo. El viernes lo define como su día menos duro: natación, ciclismo y carrera suave. Sábado y domingo retoma el ritmo frenético. Todos los días dedica entre cinco y seis horas a machacarse, se mete en la cama pasadas las nueve de la noche y se despierta al amanecer.
Por el camino, antes de convertirse en campeón del mundo, ha dejado de lado la carrera de Medicina que comenzó en Cambridge y que abandonó cuando vio que llegaban los patrocinadores y que podía vivir del triatlón. Con 12 años y en Nottingham, descubrió junto a su madre el triatlón - su tío competía-, y decidió probar el deporte. Su madre le inculcó el amor al agua y de su padre ha heredado el carácter obstinado. Nada más comenzar la universidad, decidió abandonar los estudios para ser médico como sus progenitores -sí ha podido, sin embargo, compaginar las horas de entrenamientos con las licenciaturas de Psicología y Educación del Deporte-, y se mudó a Bramhope. Un minúsculo pueblo rodeado de campo en donde el atleta encuentra su refugio. Alérgico a la fama, es muy celoso de su intimidad y no hay nada que le reconforte más que bajar cada mañana al garaje de su casa, lleno de zapatillas y de bicicletas, para dedicarse a un deporte que define para "personas chifladas".
"Cuando comencé de niño, nadie conocía el triatlón; era para locos o chiflados, te miraban raro", declaraba en The Times. Un deporte que se hizo más popular cuando se convirtió en olímpico. Precisamente, los Juegos de Londres de 2012 son la obsesión de Alistair, que terminó duodécimo en Pekín y que sueña con ganar el oro en su país. Y uno de sus principales rivales será su hermano menor con el que se entrena todos los días en Bramhope, Jonathan, y al que desquicia alguna vez por su impuntualidad. Tiempo parece sobrarle a este campeón inglés inagotable, que, con 23 años, ya manda en el triatlón mundial.
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/ultima/hora/Alistair/Brownlee/atleta/inagotable/elpepudep/20110910elpepu_1/Tes
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