In an epic duel between the two greatest performers in current ITU history, four-time ITU World Champion Javier Gomez of Spain eked out a 2-seconds victory over 2012 Olympic Champion Alistair Brownlee of Great Britain. While there have been closer finishes, this battle had more suspense and excitement because the two contenders exchanged the lead several times with many surges and counterattacks leaving the outcome to the man who had the last drop of energy and will on the blue carpet.

After a choked swim and a similarly clotted bike leg which ended up with 50 men jammed together into T2, the race boiled down to a brilliant last lap run battle between Gomez, Brownlee and, until he fell back at the 8 kilometer mark, Spaniard Mario Mola.

The three men ran in close formation as they began the final 2.5 kilometer run lap. At the previous WTS men’s round in Cape Town, Alistair Brownlee put the hammer down with 2 kilometers to go and outran Gomez for the win. A year ago, Gomez won at Yokohama in a similar battle. On this day, Gomez surged and Brownlee followed at 8k, as Mola fell back and could not answer.

With a kilometer to go, Gomez made a surge and tried to pull away. Brownlee, his face showing the strain, held on grimly. A hundred meters later, Brownlee went on his toes into sprint mode and took a slight advantage. But Gomez went with and came back.

At 800 meters to go, Brownlee glanced over his shoulder with a concerned look. Gomez then surged and ran back in rival’s shoulder. With 700 meters to go, Gomez looked stronger and edged to a slight lead. With 600 meters to go, the two best men in the sport were side by side, separate by less than a sheet of paper.

Gomez, who had no victories so far in 2015, took a small gap as Mola disappeared in their wake, 200 meters behind.

With 200 meters to go, Brownlee came on with a final exhalation of will and the two men entered the blue finish carpet side by side. Alistair edges forward, but Gomez has the answer and crosses the line in 1:47:00 with a 2 seconds margin of victory.

Over many years of battles with Gomez, Alistair Brownlee had prevailed 20 times. But after this day, Gomez has won 8 times. Starting the run in 1st, Gomez ran 29:43 for the win. Starting the run in 9th, just 3 seconds down, Alistair Brownlee ran 29:44 for the silver. Mola hung on for 3rd, 20 seconds back of the winner.
“This definitely was one of my best races ever,” said Gomez. “When you race Alistair and Mario they always make it tough. I went as hard as I could at the end. With 400 meters to go, you are never really confident. At that moment, I could not drop Alistair and he surged. I knew it would be tight and at that moment I did not know how it would end.”

Brownlee was bluntly honest. “In Cape Town my surge worked. But this time my legs were gone and this was a tough one. I didn’t have my normal bouncy stride. I am not usually in the middle of the pack on the bike but this was different race completely. At the end, I just had nothing – it was the worst I ever felt in a race in my life. I wanted to win but it just wasn’t there.”

After all the tumult and shouting, numbers were tallied and Gomez leads the Threadneedle WTS standings with 3507 points. Mola is 2nd with 2958 and Fernando Alarza 3rd with 2685 – making the points chase 1-2-3 for Spain. Jonathan Brownlee, who took this race off, remains in 4th with 2186 points. Alistair Brownlee, after only two races, is 9th with 1540 points.

WTS Yokohama
Yokohama, Japan
May 16, 2015
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k

Results

Men

1. Javier Gomez (ESP) 1:47:00
2. Alistair Brownlee (GBR) 1:47:02
3. Mario Mola (ESP) 1:47:20
4. Mark Buckingham (GBR) 1:47:48
5. Crisanto Grajales (MEX) 1:47:52
6. Sven Riederer (SUI) 1:48:00
7. Adam Bowden (GBR) 1:48:04
8. Fernando Alarza (ESP) 1:48:14
9. Jacon Birtwhistle (AUS) 1:48:17
10. Alexander Bryukhankov (RUS) 1:48:28