Alistair Brownlee took part in a daring three-man breakaway late in the bike leg to grab a 1 minute 20 seconds lead -- enough to hold off the late charge on the run by Javier Gomez, Mario Mola and his brother Jonathan -- enough to take the single day glory of the Grand Final win.

But it was World Triathlon Series leader Javier Gomez of Spain who captured the big prize - the season long points quest that signifies the 2014 ITU Elite Men's World Championship.

After recovering from a flu bug that forced a DNF a week ago in the penultimate WTS round last week in Stockholm, Javier Gomez of Spain marshaled a smart third place finish at the Grand Final in Edmonton to give him a record-tying 4th ITU World Championship.

Gomez thus held on to his lead in the WTS season-long points standings with a final total of 4,860 points which gave him a 259-points margin of victory in the World Championship chase and the $80,000 bonus pool award.

Gomez’ 4th ITU Olympic distance World Championship Elite Men’s title comes after victories in 2008, 2010 and 2013 and ties him with Simon Lessing of Great Britain who won in 1992, 1995, 1996 and 1998. Lessing was on the scene of this, the 25th ITU World Championship final, to greet the Spaniard.

Jonathan Brownlee, who started the day closest to Gomez, 282 points down, was perhaps tapped out of energy after winning the WTS round at Stockholm last weekend and was the first to fade in a three-man duel for the silver medal with Gomez and Mola on the final lap of the run. When Jonny hit the finish 18 seconds behind Mola and 15 seconds behind Gomez, he was 4th place on the day and had surrendered the runner-up spot in the WTS World Championship points standings to Mola – 4,601 to 4,501.

Whether by sheer luck or strategic seizing of opportunity, Alistair Brownlee was able to compensate for an apparent lack of his usual dominating form on the run by joining a daring three-man breakaway on the fifth of 6 laps on the bike leg.

After 30 kilometers of a passive 25-man lead pack cruise, Brownlee senior, Reinaldo Colucci of Brazil and WTS newcomer Kristian Blummenfelt of Norway took off like three scalded cats and established a 1:29 lead by the time they arrived in T2.

“I think I was lucky to be in that break,” said Brownlee afterward. Indeed he was as he could only muster a 30:56 10k run which was enough to hold off the faster-flying feet of his chasers for the win, but surrendered the title of fastest run of the day to Mola (29:49), Gomez (29:57) and brother Jonny (30:11). Still, Alistair Brownlee did not have to push to his limit on the run and knew it. “I could have won it on the run if I had to,” said the man with 17 World Triathlon Series victories.

After the race, Gomez admitted he was not concerned with Alistair’s breakaway because the Olympic champ only had a miniscule theoretical chance of wresting the World Championship title from him – it would have required a win and a 42nd place finish by Gomez – as well as absurd simultaneous DNFs by Mola and Jonny.

“It was a very tactical race,” said Gomez. “I saw Alistair get the break but I knew I had to be with Jonny all the time and stay there and save energy for the run – and the world title.”

Gomez then proceeded to mark the Brit like a jockey in a high stakes match race. Indeed, if Alistair won and Jonny was second, Gomez would have had to drop to 6th place to give the younger Brownlee brother the world title.

Mola, with great sportsmanship, turned around at the finish line to salute his countryman for his world title – pointing his finger at Gomez to salute the number one man of the of the season. “I am happy our second chase pack caught up to the main pack and gave me a chance for the podium on the run,” said Mola. “But I was happy to recognize Javier for his title at the finish line.”

Joao Pereira of Portugal finished 5th to protect his 4th place standing in the WTS points chase. Crisanto Grajales of Mexico had a career day to finish 6th and Jarrod Shoemaker ran an excellent 30:34 split to advance from 33rd after the bike to 7th at the line as the best U.S. finisher. After his brave role in the bike breakaway, Reinaldo Colucci of Brazil held on to finish 10th.

Edmonton World Triathlon Series Grand Final
Edmonton, Canada
August 31, 2014
S 1.5k / B 43k / R 10k

Results

Elite men

1. Alistair Brownlee (GBR) 1:48:44
2. Mario Mola (ESP) 1:49:04
3. Javier Gomez (ESP) 1:49:07
4. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 1:49:22
5. Joao Pereira (POR) 1:49:44
6. Crisanto Grajales (MEX) 1:49:48
7. Jarrod Shoemaker (USA) 1:49:50
8. Joao Silva (POR) 1:49:55
9. Dmitry Polyanskiy (RUS) 1:50:19
10. Reinaldo Colucci (BRA) 1:50:29
17. Joe Maloy (USA) 1:50:43