World Triathlon

Although the mens race lacked the excitement of a sprint finish it too provided some exceptionally compelling competition as talented young Brit, Alistair Brownlee, put himself on the map with a dominant performance in the mens competition whilst 2008 world champion, Javier Gomez, returned to the Caso de Campo in front of an expectant home crowd.

Having acquired an ankle injury following the Olympic Games in Beijing, Gomez had been out of shape in recent weeks, finishing second behind Russias Dmitry Polyansky at the European Cup race in his hometown of Pontevedra, and so elected to push the pace on the swim and bike to establish an advantage.

The Russian quartet of Polyansky, Brukhankov and the Vasiliev brothers, Ivan and Denis, were more than happy to oblige with their fair share of the opening work as they carved apart the swim and formed an early break away on the cycle. Along with them went Australian veteran Courtney Atkinson who started his season with wins at the Mooloolaba and Ishigaki World Cup races, Germanys Maik Petzold and Brownlee who made up part of an eleven man pack.

Brownlee was never content to sit and wait for the chasers to make contact and launched repeat attacks to up the tempo forcing the athletes around him to work hard in keeping the pace honest. With indecision and reluctance in the following group to expend the valuable energy to close down the early advantage, the leaders were able to increase their time advantage to over 90 seconds, a time they were able to maintain throughout the bike.

Behind it was Britains Tim Don who did much of the legwork along with Beijing Olympic gold medallist, Jan Frodeno from Germany. Tongyeong runner-up, Brad Kahlefeldt from Australia also sat towards the fore as they were caught by the smaller second chase pack which included the USAs Jarrod Shoemaker.

With the leaders arriving in second transition with a 1:27 advantage the podium positions were already out of reach for the chasers with Kahlefeldt posting the best performance to move up into ninth with Frodeno in tenth.

However the crowds attention was affixed firmly on the flying Brownlee who exited transition with such grit and determination that he had opened up a 24 second advantage after the first of the four 2.5km laps. The relaxed running style took him away from the chasing Gomez, Atkinson and Petzold who looked to struggle in the increasing heat in comparison with the young Brit.

Gomez worked hard and finally dropped Petzold after 7.5km, however the relentless Atkinson held on to the Spaniards coattails as he sat in for a sprint finish.

Brownlee could afford to cruise to the finish as he crossed the line in 1:51:27, some 48 seconds ahead of the Aussie who kicked early to beat the home favourite by just five seconds. Petzold held on for fourth with Ivan Vasiliev in fifth.

It was the perfect race for me really, said Brownlee, the reigning under 23 world champion. Everything seemed to go right from the start, I couldn’t believe it. I had a fantastic swim next to Vasiliev and he just took me from there. The first two bike laps were really hard as we settled into a good group and someone said we had 45 seconds and I thought where did that come from?; and then when it was 1:30. I couldn’t believe it.

I went off on the run and I thought, right I’m going to make this hard after the tough bike’ and before I knew it I had thirty seconds. I thought I was going to blow up on that last lap, but it was great to hold on.

Atkinson was pleased with his second place: It panned out as well as I could have imagined, he exclaimed. With the early break on the bike I really pushed hard to make sure it stuck, and then went for it on the run. Alistair had an amazing race and we’ve good a bit of work to do to get up to him. Its great to see the young guys racing like that.”

It was very hard but I am happy with my third, admitted Gomez. This winter was very hard with no running. I only started a month ago and now I think I’m only at 70%, so to hit the podium was amazing. It was largely thanks to the support from the crowd here in Madrid - thank you to Spain!

I know I will only get better and so I will next race in Washington and will run faster, and then try to be 100% for the European races in the summer and hope to catch Alistair.

A seventh place finish in Madrid, combined with his bronze medal in Tongyeong moves Dmitry Polyansky from Russia ahead of New Zealands Bevan Docherty to as he leads the mens standings with 1186pts. That places him 17 points ahead of Australias Brad Kahlefeldt with fellow Aussie Atkinson moving into third.

2009 Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Rankings
After Race Two of Eight
1. Dmitry Polyansky (RUS) 1186pts
2. Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS) 1169pts
3. Courtney Atkinson (AUS) 1137pts
4. Alexander Brukhankov (RUS) 1043pts
5. Kris Gemmell (NZL) 911pts

2009 Madrid Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship
1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Elite Men - Official Results
Gold Alistair Brownlee (GBR) 1:51:27
Silver Courtney Atkinson (AUS) 1:52:14 +0:48
Bronze Javier Gomez (ESP) 1:52:19 +0:53
4th Maik Petzold (GER) 1:52:32 +1:06
5th Ivan Vasiliev (RUS) 1:52:39 +1:13
6th Alexander Brukhankov (RUS) 1:52:45 +1:18
7th Dmitry Polyansky (RUS) 1:53:08 +1:41
8th Christian Prochnow (GER) 1:53:17 +1:50
9th Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS) 1:53:18 +1:52
10th Jan Frodeno (GER) 2:53:19 +1:53

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La joven estrella de 21 aos de edad de Gran Bretaa, Alistair Brownlee, ha comenzado su campaa en las Series de los Campeonatos del Mundo de Triatln ITU Dextro Energy 2009 a lo grande, tras escaparse del Campen del Mundo de 2008, el espaol Javier Gmez, para ganar con un tiempo de 1:51:27 en Madrid, Espaa.

El ruso Dmitry Polyansky se sita por delante del neozelands Bevan Docherty en la Clasificacin General de las Series de los Campeonatos del Mundo de Triatln ITU Dextro Energy con un total de 1186 puntos.

Brownlee pareca animado desde la salida, poniendo un ritmo muy alto en los 1500m de la natacin, antes de atacar repetidamente en el trazado montaoso de 40km del segmento de la bicicleta, lo que le sirvi para establecer un pequeo grupo de tan slo siete atletas entre los que estaban el favorito local Gmez y el experimentado australiano Courtney Atkinson.
Sin embargo fue en la carrera a pie donde el britnico impresion ya que no tuvo rival. Despus de los primeros 2,5km tena 30 segundos de ventaja y continu aumentndola hasta los 48segundos y de este modo hacerse con su primera victoria en las series mundiales ITU. A pesar de no haber ganado una carrera de las series mundiales antes, Brownlee ha tenido un notable xito anteriormente, ganando los campeonatos del mundo junior en 2006 y los campeonatos del mundo Sub23 en 2008.

Gmez, quien regresaba a la accin tras una lesin de tobillo que se produjo despus de los Juegos Olmpicos de 2008, perdi la medalla de plata a favor de Atkinson, que logr el segundo puesto y su noveno pdium en las ltimas diez carreras. El espaol hizo tercero, mientras que el alemn Maik Petzold y el ruso Ivan Vasiliev hicieron cuarto y quinto respectivamente. El campen Olmpico, el alemn Jan Frodeno, termin dcimo tras llegar con el segundo grupo.

Ha sido una carrera perfecta para m, dijo Brownlee. Todo pareca ir bien desde el inicio, no poda creerlo. Tuve una fantstica natacin al lado de Vasiliev y desde all l me llev a rueda. Las dos primeras vueltas de la bicicleta fueron realmente duras ya que nos organizamos en un buen grupo y alguien nos dijo que tenamos 45 segundos de ventaja y pens de dnde ha salido esa ventaja?; y luego cuando pas a ser de 1:30 no me lo poda creer. 

Cuando inici la carrera a pie pens, tengo que endurecer la carrera a pie despus de un segmento de bicicleta tan duro y despus supe que tena treinta segundos de ventaja. Pens que iba a explotar en esa ltima vuelta, pero pude aguantar.

Atkinson estaba encantado con su segundo puesto: Ha sido un xito que no me poda imaginar, coment. Con los primeros ataques en la bicicleta yo realmente trabaj para asegurar ir juntos y luego ir a por todas en la carrera a pie. Alistair ha hecho una carrera increble y nosotros hemos trabajado bien para darle caza. Es genial ver competir a los chicos jvenes como lo ha hecho l.

Ha sido una carrera muy dura, pero estoy contento con mi tercer puesto, dijo Gmez. Este invierno ha sido muy duro sin poder correr. Empec hace slo un mes y creo que ahora estoy slo al 70%, por lo que lograr un pdium ha sido increble. En gran parte ha sido gracias al apoyo de la aficin que se ha dado cita aqu en Madrid, gracias a Espaa!

S que mejorar y en la prxima carrera en Washington correr ms rpido e intentar estar al 100% en las prximas carreras europeas y espero coger a Alistair.

Clasificacin General de las Series de los Campeonatos del Mundo de Triatln Dextro Energy 2009
Despues de la segunda de las ocho carreras
1. Dmitry Polyansky (RUS) 1186pts
2. Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS) 1169pts
3. Courtney Atkinson (AUS) 1137pts
4. Alexander Brukhankov (RUS) 1043pts
5. Kris Gemmell (NZL) 911pts

Campeonato del Mundo de Triatln ITU 2009 Dextro Energy de Madrid
1.5km natacin, 40km bicicleta, 10km carrera a pie
Elite Masculina Resultados Oficiales
Oro Alistair Brownlee (GBR) 1:51:27
Plata Courtney Atkinson (AUS) 1:52:14 +0:48
Bronce Javier Gomez (ESP) 1:52:19 +0:53
4th Maik Petzold (GER) 1:52:32 +1:06
5th Ivan Vasiliev (RUS) 1:52:39 +1:13
6th Alexander Brukhankov (RUS) 1:52:45 +1:18
7th Dmitry Polyansky (RUS) 1:53:08 +1:41
8th Christian Prochnow (GER) 1:53:17 +1:50
9th Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS) 1:53:18 +1:52
10th Jan Frodeno (GER) 2:53:19 +1:53