Anyone hoping that Great Britain’s unbeatable triathlon prodigy Alistair Brownlee would be rendered merely human by the four months off due to a stress fracture saw that door slammed shut Sunday at the ETU European Championships in Athlone, Ireland.
Amidst high winds that forced shortening the bike leg by 2 kilometers, Alistair Brownlee and his younger brother Jonathan joined with Slovakia’s Richard Varga, Italy’s Alessandro Fabian and 2008 ITU World Champion Javier Gomez in a breakaway that yielded a 20-second advantage on the chase pack beginning the run.
Defending ETU European Champion Gomez gave Brownlee a fight in the first kilometer of the run, but by the 3 kilometer mark surrendered a 20-second lead to the lanky 22-year-old Brit. By the end, Brownlee’s race-best 30:54 10k run put him across the line in 1:44:54 with a 40-second margin on the Spaniard.
Brownlee’s win underlined the fact that he had fully recovered from his stress fracture to the femur suffered this February. In his return to competition at Round 3 of the 2010 Dextro Energy World Championship Series at Madrid last month, Brownlee ran away from Australian Courtney Atkinson in the final kilometer to win by 10 seconds. That extended his 2009 unbeaten streak of four WCS events and a triumph in a duel with Gomez at the Dextro Energy WCS Grand Finale on the Gold Coast of Australia.
In the women’s race, recent law school graduate Nicola Spirig of Switzerland broke away from a race long duel with France’s Carole Peon in the final kilometer to win in 1:57:58 with a 12-second margin of victory over Peon, with Sweden’s Lisa Norden third another 10 seconds back of Peon.
Spirig’s race-best 34:54 run showed the benefits of skipping the temptations of the million dollar purse at Hy-Vee last month, as she notched her second straight World Championship Series win after triumphing at the Madrid WCS round last month.
The two straight ETU wins add to Spirig’s already impressive race resume that includes a Junior World Championship (2001), a 6th at the 2008 Olympics, ITU World Cup wins at Eilat (2007) and Kitzbuhel (2008), and World Championship Series wins at London (2009) and Madrid(2010).
ETU triathlon European Championships
Athlone, Ireland
July 4, 2010
D 1.5k/ B 38k./ E 10k
Results
Men
1. Alistair Brownlee (GBR) 1:44:24
2. Javier Gomez (ESP) 1:45:04
3. David Hauss (FRA) 1:45:31
4. Joao Silva (POR) 1:45:33
5. Laurent Vidal (FRA) 1:45:40
6. Bruno Pais (POR) 1:45:45
7. Alexander Brukhankov (RUS) 30:55
8. Vladimir Turbaevskiy (RUS) 1:45:54
9. Oliver Freeman (GBR) 1:45:56
10. Filip Ospaly (CZE) 1:46:06
Women
1. Nicola Spirig (SUI) 1:57:58
2. Carole Peon (FRA) 1:58:10
3. Lisa Norden (SWE) 1:58:20
4. Ainhoa Murua (ESP) 1:58:35.
5. Aileen Morrison (IRL) 1:58:52
6. Magali Di Marco (SUI) 1:59:00
7. Alexandra Razarenova (RUS) 1:59:03
8. Annamaria Mazzetti (ITA) 1:59:05
9. Emmie Charayron (FRA) 1:59:17
10. Hollie Avil (GBR) 1:59:36
