Alistair Brownlee of Great Britain absolutely crushed the men’s field at the sprint distance WTS London, charging away from his contenders on the run and winning his fourth big home country race while easing up at the finish with a large margin in hand.

Brownlee, feeling close to his 2012 Olympic winning form after missing the first two WTS races this year with injury, took off like a rocket halfway through the first 2.5-kilometer run lap, finishing the race with a 4th-best 14:32 run that brought him to the finish in 50:39 with a 12 seconds margin on Fernando Alarza of Spain and 18 seconds on 3rd-place finisher Vincent Luis of France.

Ryan Bailie of Australia finished 4th, one second behind Luis, and Richard Murray of South Africa came from well back with a race-best 14:12 run to take 5th.

Even though Javier Gomez skipped this WTS round, he still leads the 2015 series points chase with 3507. Mario Mola despite a 14th place finish in London, stays 2nd with 2979. Alarza, after his first WTS podium this year, advanced to 3rd at 2961 while Richard Murray of South Africa stayed 4th at 2490 points after his 5th place finish. Alistair Brownlee, with a win at Cape Town, a 2nd at Yokohama and another win this week, advanced to 5th in the series with a 2340 total while brother Jonny, after negligible points after his flat, is 7th with 2186.

“Physically I felt good for the first time in a year,” said Alistair, whose coaches claim the 2012 Olympic gold medalist is “only 85 percent” at this time – an ominous portent for his rivals. “It’s been two years since I felt at my best, so this is a good sign.”

“This was my first podium this year,” said Alarza. “I think the sprint is a good distance for me.”

“We started the run real fast,” said Luis. “I just tried to hang in. I don't know how he [Alistair] can run like that. I am happy with 3rd.”

Race recap

After finishing the swim 6 and 7 seconds back of the leader, Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee looked to be in position to have another brotherly duel for the win with points leader Javier Gomez taking the week off. But seconds out of transition, Jonny suffered a flat tire and after the wheel was replaced, Jonny was 1:13 back and doomed to be out of contention in the bang-bang pace of a sprint race.

At the finish of four 5 kilometer laps on the Hyde Park course, Andrea Salvisberg of Switzerland led with sprint expert Vincent Luis of France, Alistair Brownlee, Justin Nieschlag of Germany and Fernando Alarza of Spain were credited with the same time as part of a 17-man front pack. Usual sprint contenders Richard Murray of South Africa (23rd after the bike leg, +45 seconds) and Mario Mola of Spain (43rd after the bike leg, +52s) needed a miracle to catch the leaders after sub-par swims and a frustrating time in the chase pack on the bike.

Starting the run, Tony Dodds of New Zealand began with a kamikaze drive to the front, followed by Alistair Brownlee, Luis, Ryan Bailie of Australia, Alarza and Andrea Salvisberg of Switzerland. Just after the 1-kilometer mark, Brownlee blasted away and no one had an answer. Dodds fell back and Luis and Alarza surged and left Bailie in 5th.

WTS London
London, England
May 31, 2015
S 750m / B 20k / R 5k

Results

Men

1. Alistair Brownlee (GBR) 50:39
2. Fernando Alarza (ESP) 50:51
3. Vincent Luis (FRA) 50:57
4. Ryan Bailie (AUS) 50:58
5. Richard Murray (RSA) 51:01
6. Dorian Coninx (FRA) 51:06
7. Henri Schoeman (RSA) 51:08
8. Tony Dodds (NZL) 51:10
9. Justin Nieschlag (GER) 51:12
10. Tyler Mislawchuk (CAN) 51:14