In cold and rainy conditions Jonathan Brownlee ran away from Javier Gomez and Joao Silva to grab the win at the 3rd stop of the 2013 ITU World Triathlon Series in Yokohama, Japan, and showed that he hadn't lost a step since his injury.
From the start of the earlier women's race the outside temperature had dropped a couple more degrees to 19 degrees Celsius in Yokohama by the time 38 elite men jumped into water. The water temp though had stayed steady at 17 degrees and made this third stop of the 2013 World Triathlon Series a wetsuit legal affair. San Diego champion Alistair Brownlee wasn't at the start, but the field was loaded otherwise and Alistair's younger brother Jonathan made his season debut in Yokohama.
Denis Vasiliev and Jonathan Brownlee were first out of the water on the first lap with Ivan Vasiliev, Henri Schoeman and series leader Joao Silva right there too. The rest of the field though was very much spread out and some folks looked to be in trouble early on. Andrew McCartney took over on the second lap and eventually lead Denis Vasiliev and Brownlee out of the water in 17:25.
A group of 8 established early on and a quick transition helped Javier Gomez to be there with Brownlee, Silva, McCartney, Schoeman, Benjamin Shaw, Marco Van Der Stel and Ivan Vasiliev. The other Vasiliev and Andrey Bryukhankov were dangling just behind and appeared to possibly catch the front eight, but eventually the 2 Russians fell further back as the leading bunch worked well together. Richard Murray slower swim had caused him to miss the leading group and 9k into the bike segment he was chasing further back in a group that also contained Jarrod Shoemaker, just over a minute down. Ahead of them a group of 7 that contained Dan Wilson, Ryan Bailie and Adam Bowden was also trying to connect, but unlike the women 2.5 hours earlier, all these chasers appeared to get distanced further as the race continued. By the 27k mark the first chase group trailed by 1:13 and the Murray group had lost just about 2 minutes, and from there the numbers steadily went up all the way to the bike-run transition.
Benjamin Shaw led the eight out of transition, but Brownlee took over in no time with Silva and Gomez right on his heels. The wicked pace of Brownlee caused Silva to get dropped barely 1k into the run, but Gomez hung tough - for a little while at least. Brownlee put on the afterburners early on during the second run lap and managed to pull away from Gomez. From there it was all Jonathan Brownlee and with his amazing 29:21 run split he cruised to a comfortable win in 1:44:59. Gomez finished second and Silva held on to third despite a hard charge by Ivan Vasiliev. Silva also held on the the ITU World Triathlon Series lead.
"At the start of the year I was told I wouldn’t be racing at all this season, so I got a bit emotional towards the end because this year I thought I wouldn’t be here at all," said Brownlee. "I thought the season was over two months ago."
The weather might not have been ideal for Gomez ans Silva, but the younger Brownlee seemed to be in his element.
"I did feel at home, I have been worried about the heat here, I have been training in a heat chamber before I came out, when I heard the forecast I thought I’m so pleased it is going to rain, I sat in my hotel room hoping for it to rain and it did," added Brownlee.
Yokohama WTS Elite Men
Yokohama, Japan / May 11, 2013
1.5k swim / 40k bike / 10k run
1. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 1:44:59
2. Javier Gomez (ESP +0:24
3. Joao Silva (POR) +1:17
4. Ivan Vasiliev (RUS) +1:26
5. Richard Murray (RSA) +2:24
6. Henri Schoeman (RSA) +2:27
7. Andrew McCartney (CAN) +2:32
8. Adam Bowden (GBR) +2:44
9. David McNamee (GBR) +2:57
10. Ryan Bailie (AUS) +2:58
2013 ITU World Triathlon Series - Elite Men
1. Joao Silva (POR) 2055
2. Javier Gomez (ESP) 2004
3. Mario Mola (ESP) 1326
4. Richard Murray (RSA) 1326
5. Ivan Vasiliev (RUS) 1129
