Alistair Brownlee has endured many frustrating setbacks in the last three years, and T100 Lake Las Vegas on Saturday was just the latest.
Britain’s two-time Olympic king retired from short-course competition in 2021 after ankle surgery following his failed bid to make the team for Tokyo.
Since then he has found his step up to longer distances hampered by a string of injuries and illness, including a second ankle operation.
Despite all the false starts, Alistair came out of T100 Ibiza last month with renewed optimism after a race he felt he could “finally be proud of”. He had finished fourth there despite picking up the first drafting penalty ever handed out by the new series.
A penalty and a DNF for Brownlee
So there was a feeling of hope among the massive Brownlee fanbase heading into T100 Lake Las Vegas on Saturday, but sadly he would once again be beset by misfortune.
After being up with the front pack after the swim, Alistair was cutting out the pace at the front of the race with big favourite Marten Van Riel when disaster struck in the shape of ANOTHER drafting penalty.
After spending 60 seconds in the penalty tent Brownlee emerged aggressively, but after initially cutting into his newly-acquired deficit, he began to gradually fall away from the leaders.
Onto the run and all was clearly not well for the British legend, and eventually he was forced to DNF. He later revealed that even before the race started he had endured health issues, which impacted his preparation.
Alistair reveals post-Ibiza sickness
Writing in a post on his Instagram account, he revealed: “Not my day in Vegas yesterday, I hate DNFing and I think that may only be the third time in my career!
“Unfortunately picked up some sickness on the way home from Ibiza and wasn’t able to get as healthy as I needed to be, just had nothing to give on bike or run and had to pull the plug.
“Time to recover and get ready for one more!”
That ‘one more’ of course is the final race of the 2024 T100 season – the Championship final in Dubai next month.
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