Olympics triathlon great Alistair Brownlee DID get to take part at Paris 2024 after all – by running in the ‘Marathon Pour Tous’.
That is a new mass-participation event on the same weekend and over the same course as the men’s and women’s marathons.
Brownlee is the only triathlete – male or female – to defend an Olympic gold medal, winning at both London in 2012 and Rio four years later.
Until this Games it was his younger brother Jonny who was the most decorated Olympian from a triathlon perspective with the full set of gold, silver and bronze.
But for the first time since 2004 neither of them featured at an Olympics, with Alistair having moved up in distance while Jonny just missed out on selection.
Going full circle
However their influence was felt far and wide.
For watching them at London 2012 was a then 14-year-old Alex Yee and galvanised by what he saw he would go on to overtake Jonny as the Olympics’ most successful triathlete – adding an individual gold and a relay bronze to his silver and gold respectively from Tokyo.
And that epic comeback win in Paris as he overhauled Hayden Wilde was partly inspired by a shout of ‘anything can happen mate, anything can still happen’ from Alistair who was supporting from the roadside.
Alistair was also in Paris as a member of the IOC’s Athletes’ Commission – in addition to his role as chair of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) Athletes’ Commission.
And one of the projects he’s been closely involved in is the ‘Marathon For All’ which brought together around 20,000 runners aged 20 to 85 to tackle the marathon course under lights late on Saturday night / early Sunday morning. A similar number were also running in a 10km event – with the age range there 16 to 94 years-old.
Brownlee had said before: “The Marathon Pour Tous promises to be an outstanding experience. As a former Olympic athlete, I am well aware of the thrills that the Games can produce. Sharing it with the general public for the first time is wonderful.”
Impressive display
And the event was a resounding success, with Alistair one of several big-name sports stars to take part.
He’s returned to full fitness on the triathlon front this season and it will surely be only a matter of time before he’s back on the podium.
And he showed his run legs are in decent shape with a nicely-paced 2:44:29 marathon around the streets of Paris.
He completed the first half marathon in 1:21:06 and every 5km split around what was described as a hilly marathon course (400 metres of elevation) was under the 20-minutes mark, bar the 35km-40km section. His average speed for the race as a whole was under 4min/km.
Brownlee hasn’t raced an IRONMAN since Kalmar in 2022 when he set the-then fastest full-distance time by a Briton and rounded it off with a 2:40:46 marathon which is his quickest to date after a 2.4-mile swim and 112-mile bike ride.
Also in action in the marathon were Amélie Mauresmo, the French tennis star who won the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2006. She clocked 3:30:19, while former marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe ran 40:26 for the 10km.
