Alistair Brownlee showed he had lost little of his Olympic gold medal form, returning to competition after a hiatus due to removal of his appendix last Fall with a resounding win at the San Diego 2013 World Triathlon Series round two. Olympic silver medalist Javier Gomez failed to offer Brownlee an expected duel, finishing 8th. Richard Murray took 2nd, Joao Silva was 3rd and Matt Chrabot finished 14th overall and took the USA Triathlon Elite Men's National title.
All photographs © Timothy Carlson
Alistair Brownlee jets away from Joao Silva of Portugal halfway through the first of three laps of the run. His 29:30 run split at San Diego was just 23 seconds off his gold medal winning run split at London.
Aurelien Raphael of France warms up before the swim. He posted a tied for 3rd-fastest 16:09 swim and finished 18th overall.
Warm up dive scored a perfect 10 on form.
They're off!
Tommy Zaferes of the U.S. sights ahead while in the lead. Zaferes's 16:03 split led Alistair Brownlee out of the water by 3 seconds.
Leaving transition at T1, it looked like a replay of their famous Olympic duel. But at the finish Alistair Brownlee was the winner and an off-form Javier Gomez took 8th - 1:22 behind his British rival.
Richard Murray of South Africa, in a hurry to make up his 41-seconds deficit after the swim, swiftly mounts his bike. Murray finished 2nd, 22 seconds behind Brownlee.
A long pace line led by Richard Murray chases after the breakaway leaders.
The lead pack had a half mile lead on the chasers midway through the bike leg.
Alistair Brownlee of Great Britain (29) and Joao Silva of Portugal (3) tuck in behind Bryce McMaster of New Zealand (20) rounding a sharp corner.
Matt Chrabot (9) leads a group rounding a corner. Chrabot finished 14th and won the USA Triathlon Elite Men's National Title.
Fernando Alarza of Spain ran 31:05 and finished 11th overall.
Joao Silva of Portugal ran 3rd-best 30:03 and finished 3rd overall.
Premysl Svarc of the Czech Republic running past spectators enjoying the race at a condo on the beach.
Richard Murray's 2nd-best 29:50 run got him past Joao Silva but left him 22 seconds behind Brownlee at the finish.
David McNamee (eventual 10th), Clark Ellice (eventual 12th), Aurelien Raphael (eventual 18th) and Matt Chrabot (eventual 14th) duel down the beachfront on lap 2 of the run.
Happy couple, oblivious to the fierce struggle behind them between Laurent Vidal, Fernando Alarza and Sven Riederer.
Alistair Brownlee holds up his index finger in triumph a few yards away from the finish.
Dimitry Polyanskiy of Russia gave it his all for a 7th place finish, capped off by a 30:39 run.
Silver medalist Richard Murray targets a spectator who won the dubious honor of presenting the podium winners with champagne. The women's podium Friday were far more polite to their presenter.
