Ali Brownlee to race Beijing International

IMG and the Fengtai Sports Bureau of Beijing have announced that the Olympic gold medalist Alistair Brownlee will compete in the fifth edition of the Beijing International Triathlon on Sunday 11 September.

This will be Brownlee’s first race since winning the gold in Rio, as well as his first time competing in the Beijing International Triathlon. He placed 12th in his first Olympics in Beijing 2008, then returned to Beijing in 2011 to win his second ITU world title. Brownlee is also a two-time ITU World Champion (2009 and 2011); three-time European Champion (2010, 2011 and 2014); and current Commonwealth Champion.

“I’m looking forward to racing at Beijing International Triathlon and the challenge of the non-drafting format,” said Brownlee. “I think it’ll be a tough race against a quality field, especially as I don’t usually race the non-drafting format. I have always enjoyed racing in China and have fond memories from my two previous visits.”

In the non-drafting Olympic-distance (1.5km swim/40km bike/10km run) event, Brownlee will lead an elite field of professional triathletes including fellow Olympians Joe Maloy, Ashleigh Gentle, Vicente Hernandez and Barbara Riveros in the women’s race. Lining up against Brownlee will be regular Beijing entrant Greg Bennett and rising US non-drafting talent Cam Dye.

The Beijing International Triathlon will also be a return to China for Riveros who just captured fifth for Chile at the Rio Olympics, and also raced in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Professional triathletes participating in the 2016 Beijing International Triathlon include:

Men:

Josh Amberger (Australia)

Greg Bennett (Australia)

Alistair Brownlee (Great Britain) – 1st in Rio

Kevin Collington (United States of America)

Cameron Dye (United States of America)

Eric Lagerstrom (United States of America)

Joe Maloy (United States of America) – 23rd in Rio

Vicente Hernandez (Spain) – 27th in Rio

Women:

Ashleigh Gentle (Australia) – 26th in Rio

Lauren Goss (United States of America)

Holly Lawrence (Great Britain)

Barbara Riveros (Chile) – 5th in Rio

Magali Tisseyre (Canada)

Radka Vodickova (Czech Republic)

Matt Baird Editor of Cycling Plus magazine

About

Matt is a regular contributor to 220 Triathlon, having joined the magazine in 2008. He’s raced everything from super-sprint to Ironman, duathlons and off-road triathlons, and can regularly be seen on the roads and trails around Bristol. Matt is the author of Triathlon! from Aurum Press and is now the editor of Cycling Plus magazine.