WASHINGTON D.C. -- After all the excitement over racing for the first time in the historic Potomac River and around monuments to Washington and Lincoln had revved up the Olympic-style triathletes, two pretty spirited races broke out Sunday in the District of Columbia.
When all the tumult and the shouting were over, Great Britain's 21-year-old phenom Alistair Brownlee parlayed a part in a five-man biker breakaway with a good-enough sixth-best 31:00 run to out duel resurgent 2008 ITU World Champion Javier Gomez of Spain by 25 seconds.
With his second straight $18,000 victory in the Dextro Energy World Championship Series, the young star with a scholarly Harry Potter demeanor jumped to the head of the current class in ITU Olympic style racing, and now leads the 7-race points series, and is a marked man for the World Championship finale this September.
"This win was tougher than Madrid," said Brownlee about his dominating victory in round two in the World Championship series a few weeks ago. In Madrid last month, Brownlee ran away from Courtney Atkinson and Gomez with an authoritative 30:30 run that left the contenders in his dust. On this day, Brownlee showed he could win it with quite another way, joining Gomez, German up and comer Maik Petzold, and Americans Andy Potts and Hunter Kemper in a swim-bike break that left a high-powered slew of contenders two minutes in their wake starting the run.
When the run was over, Brownlee's 31-flat shook off all his co-conspirators, but gave back time to onrushing 6th through 10th place finishers -- Olympic champion Jan Frodeno (30:26), Laurent Vidal of France (30:29) the USA's Jarrod Shoemaker (30:29) Steffen Justus of Germany (30:41) and William Clarke of Great Britain (30:48).
"Javier just keeps getting better every week," said Brownlee, who showed the kind of versatility that makes some tri-pundits mark him as "the second coming of Simon Lessing," the newly retired 5-time ITU World Champion and fellow Brit.
"After I surged to leave Maik Petzold and Gomez, Javier just kept coming back on me so much it was unbelievable," said Brownlee. "Javier has so much guts, I had to really push myself. I was never sure I could hold him off."
"I am completely healed from my injuries," said Gomez of the painful Achilles that doomed his Olympic medal hopes last August and the stress fracture that delayed his return to hard training this spring. "Now I can train hard I am getting better and better every week. I got third in Madrid and second here so I have good momentum."
At the finish, Brownlee crossed first in 1:48:59, Gomez was second in 1:49:11 and Maik Petzold took third another 13 seconds back.
With an all-star contingent that included Olympic champion Jan Frodeno (6th), Olympic gold (2000) and silver (2008) medalist Simon Whitfield (DNF) Olympic silver (2004) and bronze (2008) medalist Bevan Docherty (DNF), 2006 ITU World Champion Tim Don (18th), top Aussie Dextro Energy points man Brad Kahlefeldt (11th), 2007 ITU World Champion Daniel Unger (15th) either well back or dropping out, the fourth and fifth place finishes by Americans Andy Potts (1:49:51) and Hunter Kemper (1:50:24) were notable achievements.
In many ways, Potts, the recent Escape From Alcatraz and St. Anthony's winner in the non drafting format was the engine that drove the break that gave Brownlee the win. "It was a little choppy in the water but I enjoyed it and we carved out a 10 second lead and took off immediately on the bike," said Potts, who was favored to nab a spot but missed the 2008 US Olympic team. "We were all working hard to extend our lead but it plateaued at 40 seconds until we cracked it open on Lap 4. By T2, we had two minutes on the chasers and we knew the medals would come from our group."
On the run, Potts ran strong but faded off the podium with a creditable 31:50 run, enough to hold off Kemper, who was fighting off a return of sacroiliac trouble and a painful stiff back.
"I hadn’t run in three weeks and I knew I needed every second of that two minute break to hold off the great runners in the chase pack," said Kemper, who finished 5th in DC and 7th at the Olympics in a similarly injured state.
2009 Washington DC Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship
Washington, DC / June 21
1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Top 10 men
1. Alistair Brownlee (GBR) 1:48:58
2. Javier Gomez (ESP) 1:49:11
3. Maik Petzold (GER) 1:49:24
4. Andy Potts (USA) 1:49:51
5. Hunter Kemper (USA) 1:50:24
6. Jan Frodeno (GER) 1:50:32
7. Laurent Vidal (FRA) 1:50:36
8. Jarrod Shoemaker (USA) 1:50:41
9. Steffen Justus (GER) 1:50:52
10. Will Clarke (GBR) 1:50:59
