Alistair Brownlee of Great Britain prevailed in a tense running duel with 2008 World Champion Javier Gomez of Spain to win the Grand Final and take the 2009 Dextro Energy World Championship series title on Australia’s Gold Coast Saturday.
Brownlee scored a perfect fifth straight win in the series with a dazzling 29:04 final 10k run that wore down a determined challenge by Gomez with 500 meters to go and gave the 21-year-old Leeds, United Kingdom native a 7-second margin of victory in 1:44:51.
“I think today was the hardest race of all, I had to kill myself on the run,” Brownlee told ITU media. “Gomez kicked and kicked and I just held on to the last lap and went for it. Javier beat me at the Euros, so that’s one blotch on the year, but there’s no one happier than me right now. If someone had told me at the start of the year I would have won five races I would have told them to get lost. I can’t explain my emotions, I’m amazed."
Brownlee follows his two straight ITU Under 23 world championships with a senior world title earned by ITU World Championship Series wins at Madrid, Washington D.C., Kitzbuhel, Austria and London and topped off with a dramatic triumph in the Grand Final in Australia.
Brownlee took home $30,000 for the Gold Coast win and $55,000 more for his triumph in the 2009 World Championship Series.
Gomez, in a bit of redemption after a disappointing 4th place finish at the Beijing Olympics last year, took home $22,000 for his Gold Coast silver medal and $42,000 for his second place finish in the World Championship Series.
"I am happy, today I put together my fastest run ever but Alistair has been the best man this season and I’ll have to come back next year,” Gomez told ITU media. “I gave my best, one of my best races ever, but Alistair was flying. I tried many times on the hill to drop him but I couldn’t get rid of him. He’s been the best today and the best the whole season."
Jan Frodeno, Germany’s 2008 Olympic Triathlon champion, started the run with Gomez and Brownlee, but faded at the end of the second lap then held on for 3rd place 23 seconds behind Gomez and 5 seconds in front of 4th place countryman Maik Petzold, who also started the run with the serious contenders but dropped back after one lap of the red-hot pace.
Petzold took home $12,000 for his Grand Final finish and $30,000 for finishing third in the World Championship Series points standings.
“I am so happy,” Petzold said to ITU media. “Triathlon in Germany is in a boom time at the moment, I learned a lot and it made me even tougher for this season and it’s a great feeling. Getting a world medal was a dream and today the dream came true."
With a last lap surge, Australian Courtney Atkinson held up the host country’s honor with a 5th place finish, 2 seconds behind Petzold.
Jarrod Shoemaker was top American with a 14th place finish in 1:45:58.
Gold Coast ITU Triathlon World Championship
Surfers Paradise, Australia
September 12, 2009
S 1.5k/ B 40k/ R 10k
Elite male results
1. Alistair Brownlee (GBR) 1:44:51 -- $30,000
2. Javier Gomez (ESP) 1:44:58 -- $22,000
3. Jan Frodeno (GER) 1:45:21 -- $16,000
4. Maik Petzold (GER) 1:45:26 -- $12,000
5. Courtney Atkinson (AUS) 1:45:28 -- $9,300
6. Dimitry Polyansky (RUS) 1:45:29 -- $7,500
7. Steffen Justus (GER) 1:45:30 -- $6,000
8. Simon Whitfield (CAN) 1:45:31 -- $4,800
9. Laurent Vidal (FRA) 1:45:37 -- $3,800
10. Alexandr Brukhankov (RUS) 1:45:38 -- $3,200
11. William Clarke (GBR) 1:45:42 -- $2,700
12. Sven Riederer (SUI) 1:45:53 -- $2,300
13. Bruno Pais (POR) 1:45:56 -- $2,000
14. Jarrod Shoemaker (USA) 1:45:58 -- $1,800
15. Frederic Belaubre (FRA) 1:46:02 -- $1,600
16. Tim Don (GBR) 1:46:13
17. Kris Gemmell (NZL) 1:46:17
18. Brent McMahon (CAN) 1:46:18
19. Yulian Malyshev (RUS) 1:46:27
20. Paul Tichelaar (CAN) 1:46:33
24. Mark Fretta (USA) 1:46:51
37. Kevin Collington (USA) 1:48:07
43. Matthew Reed (USA) 1:48:50
47. Matt Chrabot (USA) 1:49:47
50. Cameron Dye (USA) 1:53:23
2009 Dextro Energy World Championship Series final standings
1. Alistair Brownlee (GBR) 4200 points - $55,000
2. Javier Gomez (ESP) 3959 points - $42,000
3. Maik Petzold (GER) 3444 points - $30,000
4. Jan Frodeno (GER) 3162 points - $20,000
5. Steffen Justus GER) 3139 points - $16,000
6. Laurent Vidal (FRA) 3048 points – $12,000
7. Courtney Atkinson (AUS) 2980 points – $10,000
8. Kris Gemmell (NZL) 2903 points – $8,000
9. Dimitry Polyansky (RUS) 2858 points – $7,500
10. Jarrod Shoemaker (USA) 2783 points - $7,000
