Alistair Brownlee is one of the greatest triathletes of all time, and one of Great Britain’s most iconic Olympians – but his astonishing career hasn’t come without its hurdles.
Alongside his brother Jonny, Alistair rose to the top of the triathlon world and became a British icon when he clinched Olympic gold in front of huge home crowds at London 2012 – a title he defended four years later in Rio.
But London was also the scene of one of Brownlee’s toughest moments – when he dramatically collapsed over the line at the World Championship Series race in 2010, in what was a remarkably similar incident to when he famously helped his brother to the finish in Mexico in 2016.
“My mind went blank”
Back in 2010, Alistair Brownlee had never lost a race in what was then called the International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Championships Series.
He was in a good position to take yet another win at the London 2010 race in Hyde Park when he dramatically slowed and began stumbling with around 500m to go – barely staggering to the finish line and ultimately crossing in tenth place.
The future double Olympic winner was in a bad way and was immediately taken to hospital – and he’s now revealed he was already virtually unconscious when he reached the line.
“Since being young I had done this thing where in really difficult situations where you’re pushing yourself as hard as you can, I would only focus on a point on the back of someone’s shoulder,” Brownlee told the High Performance podcast, in an interview which is embedded below.
“I remember running and running and I just felt bad from the first part of the run.
“Within the last few hundred metres of that race I was just focussing on that point… I saw the flags for the finish line and I remember thinking ‘they look quite a long way away’ and my mind went blank.
“Then I woke up in a hospital bed covered in ice and with wires coming out of me. I had gone unconscious from pushing myself too hard and effectively overheating.
“I think I was over 41°C which is a crazy high core body temperature. It’s a very dangerous situation, fortunately I had amazing care at the time and was cooled down.”
A costly – but necessary – lesson
Thankfully Brownlee would make a full recovery and go on to continue his incredibly successful career – but at the time it proved a costly collapse.
The race was won by legendary Spanish triathlete Javier Gomez who would ultimately win the ITU World Championship Series that year, claiming the crown off Brownlee, with brother Jonny second.
“I know lots of endurance athletes who have been to that point [pushing too hard],” Brownlee continued.
“Everyone has a common issue after where they feel they aren’t sure where that line is anymore, between what’s safe pushing yourself as far as you can and going too far.
“I was physically unwell for a few weeks after and my body couldn’t push like I’d have liked it to have been able to, but I had no problem pushing myself again. I’ve never done it since.
“You probably need quite a lot of external factors as well as internal factors to push yourself that far. You probably need the right weather conditions, potentially some GI [gastrointestinal] issues and I think you need to be exceptionally psychologically motivated.
“There’s no way I could do that in a training session or a science lab. The win at all costs mentality is good until it puts you in physical danger.
“Unless it was maybe the Olympic Games, I wouldn’t want to cross the line and end up in intensive care.
“Maybe I probably would for the Olympics.”
Thankfully, two years later at London 2012, Brownlee didn’t need to end up hospitalised to claim gold at his home Olympics.
And who came second? Only his old rival Javier Gomez.
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