The best runners in the World Triathlon Series played a game of 5 Little Indians at Yokohama and when the tumult and shouting were over, Javier Gomez earned his 3rd straight WTS victory – and both Brownlee brothers missed the podium for the first time in years.
Never has the triathlon saying “swim and bike for show, run for dough” been more appropriate than Saturday at the third round of the 2014 WTS Series at Yokohama during one of the best final leg run duels in the sport. Although, there was a key exception as two players in the final duel, Mario Mola and Richard Murray, had to follow the hard riding Tom Davison of New Zealand to scramble back to the front pack to set up the run.
Once the huge 32-man lead pack arrived in T2 in a 10-second clump, the real race, a wet 10k started. Five men ran to the front and never looked back. The five included the 2012 Olympic podium – Gomez and Alistair and Jonny Brownlee – as well as fleet footed Richard Murray of South Africa and Mario Mola, the hombre who desires to wrest the crown of fastest runner in the sport from fellow Spaniard Gomez.
In case anyone was wondering if there were any pretenders who sneaked into this duel of tri runners, note that the four men who posted the fastest runs so far in the 2014 World Triathlon Series were Gomez, Mola, Murray and Jonny Brownlee. The fifth man was none other than Alistair Brownlee, the 2012 Olympic champion back in action from an injury hiatus.
For most of the first lap, the five ran together like some triathletic horsemen of the apocalypse. At the halfway point of the run, the first Little Indian to drop was Jonny Brownlee, who was perhaps drained of energy after losing WTS duels with Gomez at Auckland and Cape Town. Next to go was Alistair Brownlee, who perhaps was not quite back to his all-conquering form and might have been feeling a bit lonely until he joined up with brother Jonny 36 seconds in arrears.
Richard Murray, who must have drawn hope from his 2012 race at Hamburg where he outdueled Gomez for the victory, was feeling chipper and surged to the front on the second lap. This caused Gomez to confront some doubts. "With Mario and Richard, they run pretty fast," recalled Gomez. "I was just about to drop in the second or third lap, but somehow I managed to get [back] up."
But finally, with a kilometer to go, even the fleet-footed South African drifted back, his ammunition spent, another Indian out of the hunt.
That left two Spaniards – the hungry Mario Mola who blitzed to a win at the Mooloolaba World Cup then outdueled Gomez at the New Plymouth World Cup before failing to contend at the first two WTS races and, of course, Gomez, who dominated the first two WTS races.
Mola edged into the lead on the final lap before Gomez put the hammer down and won by a length that was listed as the same final time of 1:45:31. "Then it got down to the final few hundred meters," said Gomez. "I knew Mario was pretty fast but I just gave it everything – the third sprint I’ve won in my life, so I’m pretty happy."
Gomez was credited with a final run time of 29:31, Mola with 29:37. Murray posted a creditable 29:55 to take 3rd place, 29 seconds back of the Spanish duo.
Mola was pleased to share the podium with Gomez. "I can't be happier," said Mola. "Javi deserved this race. He sprinted like a beast and I have to congratulate him. I also have to thank Tom Davison [of New Zealand] who did a great job on the bike. Thanks to him we were able to bridge up to the first pack." Mola also said that he was concerned when Murray made a move in mid-run. "When Richard made the move, I definitely thought he could get away. He is a great runner so I knew I had to be close to him to get a win or a podium. I didn’t feel great on the start of the run. When Alistair started I thought that is a bit too much but I tried to stay there and then found the energy to push at the end of the run that allowed me to get second."
Murray said he was delighted to make the podium. "The last time I was on the podium was just before the Olympic Games," he said. "I have had a lot of 5th places [since] which I am currently sick of now and I don’t want to settle for anything less." Murray also wanted to give credit to Davison for his work on the bike. "I might even throw some cash his way, being the best domestíque anyone can ask for," said Murray. "We were going well over 50kph on the flat and that is the reason why we closed the gap."
Murray said his surge on the second lap was a planned attack. "The legs were feeling good and I didn’t want to be a follower today … and get broken. I put two moves in on the run and couldn’t get away from them. The Spanish guys their surging skills were very, very good. From the second lap we were surging each other for the rest of the race. I think after about the sixth surge my hamstring started to go and on the last lap Javi started to go and I just couldn’t respond."
Alistair Brownlee posted a 30:26 run for 4th, 56 seconds back of the winner, and brother Jonny posted a 30:29 10k run to take 5th, two more seconds back of his brother. This race marked the first time in 17 races that Jonny Brownlee finished off the podium at a World Triathlon Series race.
Alistair Brownlee, in a his first outing in a while, said he was not up to par. "The swim was real tough and then the bike we obviously tried to push on early doors … and then on the run I had no legs at all," said Alistair. "I hope there is more conditioning to come from me but I think I am a fair bit fitter than that to be honest even though I haven’t been able to do the training I would like to."
After this race, Javier Gomez retains the series lead with a perfect 2400 points. Jonathan Brownlee is second with 2066 points, and Mario Mola is third with 1837 points.
Yokohama World Triathlon Series
Yokohama, Japan
May 17, 2014
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k
Results
Elite Men
1. Javier Gomez (ESP) 1:45:31
2. Mario Mola (ESP) 1:45:31
3. Richard Murray (RSA) 1:46:00
4. Alistair Brownlee (GBR) 1:46:27
5. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 1:46:29
6. Aaron Harris (GBR) 1:46:38
7. Fernando Alarza (ESP) 1:46:45
8. Hirokatsu Tayama (JPN) 1:46:52
9. Adam Bowden (GBR) 1:47:16
10. Andrea Salvisberg (SUI) 1:47:29
19. Joe Maloy (USA) 1:48:17
20. Jason Pedersen (USA) 1:48:29
