It has been a long tough three years for Alistair Brownlee – but Saturday in Ibiza brought some welcome light at the end of the tunnel.
The two-time British Olympic champion has seen his career hampered by injuries and illness since he retired from short-course racing in 2021 – notably a pair of ankle surgeries.
Brownlee, now 36, went into 2024 with the new T100 series as his main focus, in particular that big race in London in July. But even though his health did not foresake him there, luck absolutely did as a bike puncture cost him the chance of a podium on home soil.
Saturday in Ibiza saw Alistair endure another podium near miss as he finished fourth, with the first drafting penalty in T100 history costing him the chance of battling Germany’s Mika Noodt for third.
Alistair Brownlee on T100 Ibiza
Despite that though the brilliant Yorkshireman came out of the race in relieved and positive mood after a day in which he felt his body and his race did him proud.
He revealed: “P4 in Ibiza – So good to finally have a solid race that I’m proud of. I felt like my body was firing as it should for the first time in a long time!”
The penalty – which cost Alistair a crucial 60 seconds – left some people astonished, notably now TV pundit Jan Frodeno. But Brownlee himself had no issues with the call – in fact he welcomed the principle it represented.
“Probably deserved the penalty. I did enter the zone a few times and was pushing hard with my head down when the ref gave me it. Good to see the PTO being active on fair racing. Really enjoyed the run and pleased to have made up one place.”
Overall Brownlee was happy with his day on the party island, but would he have been ahead of Noodt and on the podium without that penalty?
What might have been
“Well, if I hadn’t had the penalty I would have been with him at the end of the bike. I mean, I would have been back a minute further up the road and with him. So, yeah, it would have been a good race.
“You definitely get a physiological advantage from having a penalty though. Like you have a minute rest. Which doesn’t sound a lot, but at a time, it feels like a long time.”
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