NEWS

Brownlee Wins in Budapest as Gomez Claims 2010 World Title

By Brad Culp | 11 Sep, 2010
Race highlights from the Elite Men in Budapest

After an injury kept him out of the first two races of the 2010 Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series, 2009 World Champion Alistair Brownlee of Great Britain was back on top of the podium today, winning the Series Grand Final in Budapest in dramatic fashion. Brownlee ran side-by-side with Spain’s Javier Gomez for the entire 10K run, before breaking away to take the win in the final seconds. With his runner-up finish, Gomez moves to the top of the 2010 ITU World Rankings to secure the second world title of his illustrious career. Gomez started the day more than 200 points behind Germany’s Jan Frodeno in the standings, but after the German finished a disappointing 41st, Gomez jumped up to take the top spot.

“The second championship feels even better than the first,” Gomez said. “I had to fight so hard for it today. I would have loved to win today’s race as well, but winning the world title was the goal, so I couldn’t be happier.”

A full field of 75 men dove into Lágymányosi Bay on the banks of the Danube River to start the second annual Grand Final, with France’s Frederic Belaubre taking up the lead early on. The Frenchman led after the first of two 750-metre loops, with Gomez and Brownlee only seconds behind. Gomez took over the lead on the second lap, as the rest of the field began to string out behind the Spaniard. Gomez was the first to exit the swim, doing so in an amazing time of 17:09, with a long line of men close behind him.

This feels great especially after starting off the year with an injury. I felt pretty comfortable at the start of the run, but I was really suffering at the end. Javier pushed me really hard today and he’s a very worthy champion.
Alistair Brownlee

The bike course took the athletes on a 5K ride from Lágymányosi Bay to Downtown Budapest, before starting seven 5K laps around the city centre. As the top men made their way into town, a lead bunch of 20 men pulled away from the rest of the field, but the chase group of another 22 men was able to pull up to the front group on lap one.

American Matt Chrabot was the first to make a legitimate break attempt, building a 15-second advantage by the end of lap two. While Chrabot was at the front trying to pull away, a series of crashes on the wet pavement took Tim Don (GBR) and Kris Gemmell (NZL) out of the race. Alexander Brukhankov (RUS), ranked number three heading into the race, was also part of a crash, and lost over a minute while he fixed his bike.

Chrabot extended his lead to almost 30 seconds by the end of lap five, but he wasn’t able to hold off the charge from behind, getting caught by the group as they started the final lap around town.

Out of transition, Brownlee, Gomez and Frodeno flew to the front, quickly putting a gap on the rest of the field. Frodeno hung with the lead men for a few hundred metres, before falling off pace, clearly suffering from stiff limbs as he tried to fight through the pain.

As Frodeno was passed by the likes of Steffen Justus (GER), Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS), David Hauss (FRA) and Joao Silva (POR), Brownlee and Gomez pulled clear of the field, extending their advantage with each passing kilometre. As the top two men started the final lap of the 10K run, their lead was over 30 seconds and it was clear that the final race of the 2010 Series would come down to a two-man showdown.

As they made the turn for the finishing stretch, Brownlee kicked into another gear, pulling clear of Gomez to claim his second Series title of the year in 1:42:26. Gomez crossed the line four seconds later, already aware that Frodeno was well back and that he had claimed the second ITU World Championship of his career.

“Alistair started off the run super fast and I just did my best to hang with him,” Gomez said. “Alistair is a great champion and when he sprinted at the end I had nothing left. I give all the credit in the world to Jan. He is an amazing athlete it I was sad to see him suffer today.”

The second championship feels even better than the first. I had to fight so hard for it today. I would have loved to win today’s race as well, but winning the world title was the goal, so I couldn’t be happier.
Javier Gomez

While it’s been a difficult year for Brownlee, last year’s world champion, he was clearly ecstatic at the over finishing the year on such a high note.

“This feels great especially after starting off the year with an injury,” Brownlee said. “I felt pretty comfortable at the start of the run, but I was really suffering at the end. Javier pushed me really hard today and he’s a very worthy champion.”

While Brownlee celebrated his win and Gomez rejoiced in his world title, the race for third came down to a four-man sprint between Justus, Silva, Kahlefeldt and Hauss. Justus proved to have the best sprint of the day, pulling clear of the group to claim today’s final podium position.

“I really wanted to make the podium today and it helped that I was in a good group late in the run,” Justus said. “I have a lot of confidence in my sprint and so I was happy to wait until the end to really push it. I couldn’t be happier with the way this season has turned out.”

Rounding out the top five were Silva (4th) and Kahlefeldt (5th), each only a few seconds behind Justus.

With his third-place finish, Justus moved up to the second spot in the final world rankings, while Kahlefeldt finishes the year ranked third. Frodeno finishes the year ranked fourth, one spot ahead of Silva.

Related Event: 2010 Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU Triathlon World Championship Grand Final Budapest
08 - Sep, 2010 • event pageall results
Results: Elite Women
1. Emma Snowsill AUS 01:49:43
2. Emma Moffatt AUS 01:51:25
3. Nicola Spirig SUI 01:51:28
4. Lisa Norden SWE 01:51:28
5. Paula Findlay CAN 01:51:30
6. Vicky Holland GBR 01:51:31
7. Helen Jenkins GBR 01:51:34
8. Laura Bennett USA 01:51:36
9. Carole Peon FRA 01:51:36
10. Juri Ide JPN 01:51:55
Results: Elite Men
1. Alistair Brownlee GBR 01:42:26
2. Javier Gomez Noya ESP 01:42:30
3. Steffen Justus GER 01:43:04
4. Joao Silva POR 01:43:05
5. Brad Kahlefeldt AUS 01:43:09
6. David Hauss FRA 01:43:12
7. Maik Petzold GER 01:43:18
8. Sven Riederer SUI 01:43:37
9. Jonathan Zipf GER 01:43:46
10. Christian Prochnow GER 01:43:54
Results: U23 Men
1. Jonathan Brownlee GBR 01:44:24
2. Ryan Sissons NZL 01:44:52
3. Franz Löschke GER 01:44:53
4. Jamie Huggett AUS 01:44:55
5. Alessandro Fabian ITA 01:45:02
6. Crisanto Grajales MEX 01:45:22
7. Vincent Luis FRA 01:45:29
8. Richard Murray RSA 01:45:33
9. Aurelien Raphael FRA 01:45:46
10. Drew Box AUS 01:45:51
Results: U23 Women
1. Emma Jackson AUS 01:58:07
2. Kirsten Sweetland CAN 01:58:59
3. Emmie Charayron FRA 01:59:19
4. Rachel Klamer NED 01:59:31
5. Alexandra Razarenova RUS 01:59:45
6. Teresa Adam NZL 02:00:07
7. Alice Betto ITA 02:00:11
8. Flora Duffy BER 02:00:14
9. Lauren Goldstein- Kral USA 02:00:18
10. Charlotte Bonin ITA 02:00:45
Results: Junior Men
1. Fernando Alarza ESP 00:52:15
2. Thomas Bishop GBR 00:52:17
3. Kevin McDowell USA 00:52:22
4. Lukas Verzbicas USA 00:52:36
5. Ron Darmon ISR 00:52:43
6. Ryan Fisher AUS 00:52:47
7. Vicente Hernandez ESP 00:52:55
8. Anthony Pujades FRA 00:53:00
9. Matthew Sharpe CAN 00:53:02
10. Andreas Schilling DEN 00:53:06
Results: Junior Women
1. Ashleigh Gentle AUS 00:57:47
2. Charlotte Bauer GER 00:58:52
3. Joanna Brown CAN 00:59:07
4. Kelly Whitley USA 00:59:20
5. Yuka Sato JPN 00:59:29
6. Neiske Becks NED 00:59:34
7. Tanelle Berard USA 00:59:46
8. Theresa Baumgartel GER 00:59:50
9. Amy Roberts AUS 00:59:51
10. Annika Vössing GER 00:59:55