Precisely 10 years since his historic gold medal victory at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Alistair Brownlee picked a great day to emerge from a slump and come back to his accustomed Hall of Fame form. This year alone, Brownlee has endured a ho-hum 4th place at Oceanside 70.3, a debilitating sickness, a hip injury, a DNS at the IRONMAN World Championships in St. George, another DNS at the Sub7 Project, and a humbling 24th place finish at the PTO Canadian Open.
But on Sunday, Brownlee put together a second-fastest 22:17 swim, a dominating, race-best 2:12:40 bike split and a race best 1:09:23 half marathon. He finished in 3:49:34 with a 7:41 margin over Antonio Benito Lopez of Spain, and 11:44 over 3rd place finisher and fellow Brit Thomas Bishop. Trailing in 4th, 15:23 arrears, was Maurice Clavel of Germany, with up and coming Britisher Liam Lloyd taking 5th, 16:30 behind the winner.
Meanwhile, Kat Matthews of Great Britain has arrived at the fore front of women’s long course royalty. She started off with a win at Ironman 70.3 Lanzarote, took second at Ironman Worlds in May, and then led her team to crush all comers at the Sub8 Hours exhibition in June, and took victory today.
Women's Recap
Kat Matthews led the women's swim wave with a 26:28 split that was 35 seconds ahead of Lizzie Rayner, 36 in front of Olivia Mitchell, 37 seconds on Jade Nicole Roberts of South Africa, 39 seconds ahead of Tara Grosvenor of Great Britain, 40 seconds ahead of fellow Brit Ruth Astle, and 2:37 ahead of Lydia Dant.
On the bike course, Matthews, Astle and Dant took turns at the sharp end of the front pack. Arriving at T2, Astle led after a 2:31:42 split that gave her a 1:38 lead on Matthews, and 3:13 over Dant. By 6.5 km, Matthews led Dant by 45 seconds. After a women’s-fastest 1:18:48 run split, Matthews finished in 4:25:09 with a 2:41 margin on Dant (1:19:29 run split) and 5:25 on third place Ruth Astle (1:25:27 run split).
Men's Recap
Great Britain’s Andrew Horsfall-Turner led the swim with a 22:15 split that gave him a 2 seconds lead on Brownlee and 5 seconds on Thomas Bishop to starts the day with a 1-2-3 British sweep. On the 90 km bike, Brownlee broke out of his recent funk with a definitive 2:12:40 split on a rigorously hilly course that gave him a 2-minute lead by the 20 km mark. By 60 kilometers, Horsfall-Turner and Bishop fell back to 6th and 7th. Not ready for retirement young Liam Lloyd kept on the gas and rose to 2nd place, 3 minutes behind Alistair. Maurice Clavel, the Franco-German who won the 2021 Ironman South Africa, achieved equilibrium in third place.
Brownlee arrived at T2 after his just-this-side-of-flying 2:12:40 split. Even after a leisurely 2 minutes tidying up, Brownlee started the run with a 5:30 lead on Lloyd and 6:30 over Clavel.
By 6.5 km, Antonio Benito Lopes of Spain passed Lloyd to second place. By 7km, Brownlee increased his lead to 7 minutes over Lopes and 8:30 over Bishop. Brownlee finished with a superb 1:09:23 run in 3:49:34 with a 7:41 margin over Lopes and 11:43 over third-place Bishop.
At the finish, Brownlee told 220triathlon that “It feels like finally my 2022 season has started.” As for the rest of the year, told media that he would race at Sweden in two weeks and if all went well “I’ll think about Kona.”
Ironman 70.3 Swansea
Swansea, Wales, Great Britain
August 7, 2022
S 1.2mi. B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Men's Results
1. Alistair Brownlee (GBR) S 22:17 T1 3:26 B 2:12:40 T2 1:49 R 1:09:23 TOT 3:49:34
2. Antonio Benito Lopez (ESP) S 23:09 T1 3:26 B 2:18:46 T2 1:51 R 1:10:06 TOT 3:57:15
3. Thomas Bishop (GBR) S 22:20 T1 3:32 B 2:19:14 T2 2:07 R 1:14:06 TOT 4:01:18
4. Maurice Clavel (GER) S 23:11 T1 3:32 B 2:18:33 T2 1:39 R 1:18:08 TOT 4:05:01
5. Liam Lloyd (GBR) S 23:14 T1 3:33 B 2:17:16 T2 1:46 R 1:20:17 TOT 4:06:04
Women's Results
1. Kat Matthews (GBR) S 26:28 T1 3:56 B 2:34:05 T2 1:53 R 1:18:48 TOT 4:25:09
2. Lydia Dant (GBR) S 29:06 T1 3:57 B 2:33:08 T2 2:13 R 1:19:29 TOT 4:27:51
3. Ruth Astle (GBR) S 27:09 T1 4:01 B 2:31:42 T2 29 R 1:25:27 TOT 4:30:35
4. Jade Nicole Roberts (RSA) S 27:06 T2 3:54 B 2:39:02 T2 2:23 R 1:25:08 TOT 4:37:31
5. Olivia Mitchell (GBR) S 27:05 T1b 3:45 B 2:43:48 T2 1:41 R 1:25:40 TOT 4:41:58