With Spanish ace Javier Gomez not participating in early season races, countryman Mario Mola has dominated every ITU elite race so far in 2016. On a hot day that left 33 highly tuned triathletes dropping out, Mola played his usual trump card – the fastest run in the sport - to take the win at WTS Gold Coast.

On his way to a race-best 30:47 10k run, Mola cruised past 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Jonathan Brownlee on the final lap to finish in 1:46:28 with a 27 seconds margin on runner-up Fernando Alarza of Spain, who passed Brownlee on the final kilometer for 2nd place. Brownlee, who staggered to the finish with heat exhaustion, finished 3rd, 41 seconds behind the winner.

The Gold Coast victory was Mola’s fourth straight ITU win including the 2015 WTS Grand Final in Chicago, 2016 WTS Abu Dhabi, and the 2016 Mooloolaba World Cup.

“Yeah, it was really tough,” said Mola. “Jonny was really strong during most of the run. I am very happy for Fernando that he got second place. I felt great during the whole race. I tried to stay in the front as much as I could on the bike in order to make it a 10k run and I think things went well.”

While Brownlee was not available for interviews immediately after the race due to his exhaustion. Alarza was thrilled with the result that boosted his chance to earn the final Spanish men’s Olympic slot after Gomez and Mola.

“It was an amazing final run,” said Alarza. “I thought I was only going to get the bronze medal and then when I saw that Jonny was down, I thought ‘Now, now now!’ So I am very happy with the silver medal. I think this was my best swim, my best cycle and a good run so I am just so very happy.”

Perhaps the happiest man in the field was Ryan Bailie, who finished 4th and thus secured a 2016 Olympic slot with the Australian team. “It hasn’t quite sunk in yet to tell you the truth,” said Bailie. “It has been a lot of hard work to get here. I knew what I had to do and I just wanted to take it out of the selector’s hands. When [the Olympic Selection race in] Rio did not go quite as planned I knew this was the race that I wanted to peak for. I just can’t believe it to tell you the truth.”

While the race was decided on the run, the table was set by shifting fortunes on the swim and bike legs. Richard Varga of Slovakia led the swim in 16:10, followed closely by Igor Polyanskiy of Russia, Henri Schoeman of South Africa, and Jonny Brownlee. On the first lap of the bike they were joined by seven others including Aaron Royle of Australia, Ben Kanute of the U.S. and Alessandro Fabiani of Italy. The group only managed a 9-seconds gap before they were overtaken by a pack of 29 that included Alistair Brownlee of Great Britain, Ryan Fisher and Ryan Bailie of Australia, Thomas Bishop of Great Britain and Mola.

Alistair Brownlee was the first to try a solo breakaway but fell back into the mob when he could not make a clean break. Finally Ben Shaw of Ireland and Bishop achieved liftoff and earned a 50-seconds gap by T2.

Quickly, Jonny Brownlee and Mola took off the front, recalling their duel at the 2009 Junior World Championship race at this Gold Coast venue won by a final lap surge by Mola.

On this day, Brownlee and Mola dueled the first 3 of 4 laps before Brownlee, perhaps worn down by his aggressive push on the bike leg while Mola sat back and conserved energy, faded in the final kilometers.

Alistair Brownlee, 2012 Olympic gold medalist, still suffering from the ankle injury that kept him out of competition for several months, looked strong on the swim and bike but in the heat of the run joined the 32 others who quit the race.

World Triathlon Series Gold Coast
Gold Coast Queensland, Australia
April 9, 2016
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k

Results

Elite Men

1. Mario Mola (ESP) 1:46:28
2. Fernando Alarza (ESP) 1:46:55
3. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 1:47:09
4. Ryan Bailie (AUS) 1:47:31
5. Ryan Fisher (AUS) 1:47:45
6. Joe Maloy (USA) 1:47:53
7. Vicente Hernandez (ESP) 1:47:58
8. Martin Van Riel (BEL) 1:48:01
9. Jacob Birtwhistle (AUS) 1:48:04
10. Gregory Billington (USA) 1:48:16
19. Kevin McDowell (USA) 1:48:58
29. Courtney Atkinson (AUS) 1:49:39

DNF: Alistair Brownlee, Richard Murray, Dmitry Polyanskiy, Jarrod Shoemaker, Ben Kanute.