Brownlee Brothers first and second in Madrid
One-two for the brothers Brownlee in Spain
Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee finished in the two top spots at the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series Madrid on Saturday. Alistair secured his third straight win in Madrid, and his eighth World Championship Series win from eleven starts, whilst Jonathan had his best performance to date.
Alistair, 23, and Jonathan, 21, swam with the leaders before getting straight to the front of a 12-man lead group on the bike. Sharing nearly all of the work on the hilly bike course between themselves and world number one, Javier Gomez, the group opened an insurmountable lead over the chasing groups.
On the run Alistair, Jonathan and Javier Gomez broke away within the first few metres of the 10km run around the Casa de Campo Park, and shortly afterwards the brothers from Yorkshire had broken away to battle with each other for victory.
Alistair and Jonathan ran stride for stride until Alistair gradually pulled away in the latter stages. By the time he reached the carpeted finish area he had time to enjoy the final metres with the crowd and wait for Jonathan. They approached the line together, with Jonathan stepping back for Alistair to take the tape and the win.
On finishing together, Alistair Brownlee said: “It’s been a while coming, and if it was going to happen it might as well be in Madrid. It’s been a good course for me. All we needed was a bit of luck and a good day for the both of us and it’s happened.”
On the run Jonathan gave the signal to push harder, seeing that Gomez was not able to stay with them. Alistair added; “Johnny said he’s going, he’s gone, go now!”
Jonathan Brownlee said: “I didn’t think Alistair was going to wait for me, I thought he was going to go for it. Crossing the line together was really nice.”
He added: “It’s such a hard course. It was a true triathlon and it was great race.”
Will Clarke did all of the work to ensure that the chase group stayed in contention with the leaders, but was unable to bridge the gap. He finished 24th with training partner, Stuart Hayes in 35th. Harry Wiltshire and Adam Bowden were Britain’s other finishers.
Javier Gomez retains his position as world number one, with Jonathan Brownlee just five points behind in second. Alistair moves up to sixth, with Will Clarke and Tim Don also inside the top 15.
Madrid Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series – June 4, 2011
Final Results – Elite Men – Official
1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Gold – Alistair Brownlee (GBR) – 1:51:06
Silver – Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) – 1:51:09
Bronze – Javier Gomez (ESP) – 1:51:51
4th – Alexander Bryukhankov (RUS) – 1:52:02
5th – Dmitry Polyanksy (RUS) – 1:52:30
24th – Will Clarke (GBR) – 1:54:01
35th – Stuart Hayes (GBR) – 1:54:44
55th – Harry Wiltshire (GBR) – 1:57:47
58th – Adam Bowden (GBR) – 2:01:56
Image: Delly Carr/ITU
Manisha
