Alistair Brownlee glad to be on the startline despite defeat
The double Olympic champion might have finished sixth in the PTO European Open in Ibiza but was sanguine with the result of his first race for more than six months
Alistair Brownlee has never been an athlete to settle for second best, so sixth place in the PTO European Open was never going to satisfy his competitive nature.
Yet ankle and hip problems have hampered his career since winning a second Olympic gold in Rio and following another injury-ravaged year in 2022 (and a precautionary withdrawal from Ironman South Africa in March).
So just lining up in the 100km race against many of the world’s best triathlete represented a success.
How far behind did Alistair finish?
“We’re trying to do everything at 60% to get on the startline,” the 35-year-old said, having finished just over 3min behind Australian Max Neumann, who landed the $100k top prize.
“So I’m happy to be here and race. I knew the run was going to be a bit of a struggle and halfway through it I was just happy to get to the finish.”
Until that point on the multi-lap 18km run leg through Ibiza’s old town, the Yorkshireman had been putting in a trademark performance: third out of the swim on the feet of three-time Ironman champion Jan Frodeno, riding much of the 80km bike leg at the front, before attacking from T2 on the run.
But while that meant the result would have been a forgone conclusion for much of the decade following his Olympic debut in 2008, time catches up with even the greatest athletes.
As happened in last year’s PTO Canadian Open, Brownlee couldn’t sustain the pace, and one-by-one the eventual podium Neumann, Olympic champion Kristian Blummenfelt and the day’s fastest cyclist, Magnus Ditlev, came by.
While it had been severe stomach cramps in Edmonton that had been his downfall, this time it was just a lack of focused run training.
Is Brownlee injured?
He said: “I’m running maybe 50-60km [a week], mostly low intensity with a bit of quicker stuff. Normally I would have done long tempos to nail in what the right pace feels like. That’s the type of running that really brings me on, but I haven’t been able to do any of that.”
Brownlee’s 1:02:26 run split was still the 12th fastest in the race, but was a full 5mins slower than USA’s Jason West, who turned in another fleet-footed performance to run up to fifth place after finishing runner-up in Ironman 70.3 Oceanside last month.
“I came off the bike feeling pretty chilled out really,” Brownlee added. “I got all my nutrition in and felt good and seeing the early run splits, I realised that I’d gone out quickly so backed off because I could afford to lose a few seconds each kilometre. Then I just felt worse and worse.”
Where will Alistair race next?
If the result may not have been what he wanted, the event stoked his passion for more competition. As long as recovery goes okay, Brownlee will be lining up in Weston Park, Staffordshire for Xterra UK next weekend followed by a UCI gravel series race in Scotland.
An Ironman is then planned for June in an attempt to seal qualification for the world championship in Nice in September and there may also be more PTO Tour events in the offing.
He added: “I love racing and I think the 100km distance is good because you see actual racing.”
There was certainly plenty of that on show in Ibiza, and if Brownlee can stay fit and healthy for the rest of 2023, there is going to be plenty more to come.
Top image credit: PTO/Darren Wheeler
Tim Heming
Freelance triathlon journalist 
