‘The annus horribilis continues’ – Alistair Brownlee OUT of Kona

Just when his 2022 season appeared to have turned a corner, double Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee is impacted by even more bad news.

He won’t race again this year, missing this weekend’s PTO US Open and the IRONMAN World Championship at Kona.

Posting on his Instagram account he said: “The annus horribilis continues. Unfortunately I’ve got a stress fracture in my femur and won’t be racing for the rest of the year. The last few months have been more than a little testing.

“But I’ll do everything I can to work out what the problem is and be back training soon.”

Highs and lots of lows

It really has been a season of ups and downs for the 34 year-old Brownlee. He started his racing year at IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside. He looked in total control on the run there and set for victory well into the final 5km, but ultimately faded to fourth in the late stages, revealing after the race that he had been ill leading into the race.

Not ideal, but as a comeback race from surgery following his WTCS Leeds issues in 2021, more than enough positives to take, with a big year ahead. Things then started to go south:

• Sickness ruled him out of the IRONMAN World Championship St George
• A stress response in his hip meant he couldn’t start the SUB7 Project
• Stomach cramps left him a distant 24th at the PT0 Canadian Open

No stranger to adversity and injury through his career – and coming back stronger – Brownlee then delivered two back-to-back performances of total domination, suggesting he was right back in the game and with genuine chances of success at the IRONMAN World Championship:

• Winning IRONMAN 70.3 Swansea by almost eight minutes
• A dominating victory at IRONMAN Kalmar, securing his Kona start