Brownlees on course to test one another in the Alps

In his first World Series triathlon after winning the Olympic title, Leeds’s Alistair Brownlee stormed to victory in San Diego.
Alistair BrownleeAlistair Brownlee
Alistair Brownlee

In his first competition in the defence of his world title, Jonny Brownlee claimed victory in Yokohama.

On both occasions the other sibling was not present.

Jonny was still recovering from an ankle injury when the World Series landed on the west coast of America at the end of April.

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A fortnight later, Alistair was allowing his body some down time after following up his San Diego win with a first competitive 10,000m race up the California coast at Stanford, as the world of triathlon descended on Japan.

This weekend in Madrid, Jonny will attempt to go for a second straight win in this year’s series and in the Spanish capital having triumphed there last year en route to a maiden world title, while his elder brother stays at home nursing his own ankle injury back to full health.

A cynic might suggest the two of them are avoiding each other.

Not so. The reasons for only one of them competing at each of the World Series races so far are valid.

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Indeed, with Alistair’s current ankle injury only a “niggle”, they are on course to meet high up in the Austrian Alps in Kitzbuhel at the next World Series stop on July 6.

It will be the first major race where the two Leeds brothers have gone head-to-head since they etched their names into Olympic folklore 11 months earlier at London 2012, when Jonny won bronze behind champion Alistair.

What a prospect that is, as will be the World Series decider back in Hyde Park on September 15 when, in all likelihood, the Brownlee brothers will be racing against each other for the title.

That they have yet to meet owes as much to changing perspectives as it does to injury.

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For Jonny, 23, the chance to prove himself a worthy world champion by winning the global triathlon crown for a second successive season has been the driving force in the year after the Olympics.

For Alistair, 25, having conquered triathlon by winning every major honour available, finding other pursuits to motivate himself has been the aim.

In March he raced the Abu Dhabi triathlon – contested over a longer cycling distance of 100km that rules out slipstreaming, which is commonplace in a traditional 40km Olympic distance – and won.

But it is the 10,000m on the track at which he wants to try his hand, particularly at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow next summer.

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Triathlon remains his first love, and he wants nothing more than to be the first man to defend the Olympic title in the sport, in Rio in 2016.

Yet in the early stages on the road to Brazil, discovering other avenues of inspiration is the goal.

Hence the minor frustration that the second place he earned in Stanford last month in his maiden 10,000m might prove a rare occurence.

Regardless of the lack of opportunities to run the distance at a pace with which he feels comfortable, Alistair’s enjoyment of the challenge was obvious.

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“It was different in the sense that you are running quite fast, but it feels really slow,” Alistair told the Yorkshire Post.

“In triathlon you’re not used to pacing the race, you’re running just to try and beat people whereas in the 10k I was pacing it and I knew I had to hit laps of 68 seconds.

“Three or four laps in I was thinking, ‘this is easy, why didn’t I do this earlier?’

“But then all of a sudden by lap seven it was starting to feel really hard.

“And that final lap was a real world of pain.

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“So I was pleasantly surprised with the time (28mins 32.48 secs). The conditions were almost perfect.

“I would like to think that I can go maybe 20 or 30 seconds faster, but it’s really hard to put a number on it.

“It was a great track and a great experience.

“The uni out there, Stanford, is the home of track and field and it was certainly an eye opener.

“But it was a fantastic experience, one I really enjoyed. The atmosphere was superb.”

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He may have to return to America to get more 10,000m races under his belt if he is to fulfil his goal of making the English team for the Commonwealth Games next summer, when triathlon also makes its debut on that stage.

There will also be a team triathlon gold for him and his brother to chase in Scotland next summer.

In the meantime, the bulk of the 2013 campaign promises to be a fascinating duel between the two Yorkshire brothers for the world triathlon title.

After Madrid this weekend and Kitzbuhel next month, there are further races in Hamburg and Stockholm before the Grand Final in London in mid-September.

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Despite them both having a victory under their belts already this year, their inactivity brought about by injuries means they are both joint-11th going into the fourth leg of the series – both opted to miss the opener in Auckland. But no one should expect them to be languishing down the field for much longer.