Britain’s double Olympic champion and triathlon legend Alistair Brownlee has announced his retirement from the sport.
The 36-year-old transformed the sport, not just in the UK but globally, with his dynamic and aggressive style of racing taking short-course and Olympic-distance triathlon to new levels. In his prime he was close to untouchable.
He remains the only triathlete to successfully defend an Olympic gold medal, following up his London victory in 2012 in Rio four years later.
That epic success in 2012 came in front of home fans in what was arguably the biggest-ever attendance for a triathlon race as Alistair and brother Jonny, who took the bronze, delivered on the day that mattered most. One of those in the crowd that day was a 14-year-old Alex Yee who would go on to win gold for Team GB this summer in Paris.
Brownlee was awarded an MBE in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to sport.
And shortly after that London 2012 success, Alistair and Jonny launched the Brownlee Foundation charity which aims to inspire children of all backgrounds to enjoy and benefit from sport.
Spanish superstar Javier Gomez, who announced his own retirement earlier this year, took the silver that day in London and had an incredible rivalry with Alistair for much of his career. After moving up in distance, Brownlee senior would go on to more incredible battles with both Gomez and Jan Frodeno, the man who he had succeeded as Olympic champion.
Alistair’s last race came on Sunday at the T100 Grand Final in Dubai when he produced a superb performance to take his first podium of 2024 behind newly-crowned T100 champion Marten Van Riel and reigning IRONMAN 70.3 World Champ Rico Bogen, saying afterwards that the “stars had aligned” after a troubled build-up.
Brownlee’s parting message
Writing in an Instagram post to announce his decision, Alistair wrote: “It’s time to close this chapter…
“This marks my transition from professional triathlon, a moment approached with both dread and excitement in equal measure.
“Triathlon has profoundly shaped my life; I have dedicated nearly half of it to being a professional athlete, fulfilling my childhood dream and achieving far more than I ever dared to imagine.
“Why now? It feels right. I am happy and content, eager for what lies ahead. I find myself smiling because it happened, rather than crying because it’s over (to paraphrase Dr. Seuss).
“I look forward to embracing a slightly slower pace of life, yet not too slow. There’s an exciting array of events, challenges, and adventures awaiting me—things I’ve always wanted to have a crack at but haven’t had the chance to pursue. For me, sport has always been a personal journey of exploration, and I’m excited to try some new challenges. Feel free to make suggestions below.
“First, I have many wonderful people to thank and some well-deserved relaxation to embrace.
“In the coming months, I’ll share more about my career and the incredible individuals who have been part of my journey, along with the new and exciting challenges and projects I’m eager to tackle.
“I am deeply grateful to each and every one of you for your contributions, no matter how small you may believe they are. Your support means the world to me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Alistair Brownlee’s greatest achievements
Brownlee will be forever associated with those Olympic gold medals but he first made his mark on the global stage when animating the 2008 Olympics in Beijing as a 20-year-old, with his 12th-placed finish that day in no way reflecting the impact he made.
By that point he had already become a junior world champion and had moved back from Cambridge University to focus on triathlon and train back home in Yorkshire.
And it didn’t take him long to win a first senior world title, thanks to victories the following year in Madrid, Washington, Kitzbühel and London before winning the 2009 Grand Final on Australia’s Gold Coast. That also meant he became the first person to have won ITU World Championships as a junior, an under-23 (2008), and a senior.
He would win a second world title in 2011 and is also a four-time European champion.
As well as his two Olympic titles he also won two Commonwealth Games golds in Glasgow in 2014 – in the individual and the Mixed Team Relay.
After Rio in 2016 he mixed Olympic and middle-distance racing and twice went incredibly close to winning the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships – taking second to Frodeno in an epic 2018 battle and then the same position behind Gustav Iden 12 months later.
Unfortunately, an Olympic gold medal hat-trick was not to be. Alistair gave his best to qualify for his fourth Games in 2020, delayed to 2021 by the global Covid pandemic, but his chances were hindered by an injured ankle. In the end, Alistair’s DNF at the WTCS in Leeds (along with Alex Yee’s breakout performance) meant Rio was to be his last Olympics appearance.
In recent years Alistair has also raced in full-distance triathlons, which end with a marathon, but injury issues have limited his progress in that sphere.
He won on his IRONMAN debut in Ireland in 2019 and made his IRONMAN World Championship debut in Kona later that year, finishing in 21st place after fading from third at the start of the run.
And that would prove to be his one and only IRONMAN World Championship. The sport was put on hold by Covid in 2020 and he was then forced to pull out of the delayed 2021 IRONMAN World Championship in St George due to illness while a stress fracture in his femur kept him out of the IRONMAN World Championships for the second time in 2022.
However his full-distance record remains three wins out of four following successes at IRONMAN Western Australia (2019) and IRONMAN Sweden (2022) in 7:38:47, which was then a fastest-ever time by a Briton.
His final race and season in 2024
Managing injuries and the tricky balance of reaching peak fitness limited his appearances in 2023 but in what we now know is his last season this year he has raced in all seven of the T100 Triathlon World Tour events.
And despite not having the best of luck at times – including penalties in no fewer than three of the races – he overcame more adversity in the Grand Final in Dubai on Sunday to claim a superb podium place.
He spoke after that event about the battle he faces in training, explaining: “I literally need lots of stars to align because in terms of my physical ability I’ve been much fitter at some other races this year but I’ve just had to do what I could do today.
“I can’t put all my eggs in a few baskets these days, there are too many uncontrollables.
“I have to spin the dice, turn up to the races with whatever form I’ve got and see what happens.”
In typical Alistair Brownlee fashion, Sunday saw him help to drive the swim and the bike and even overcame a fall on the run to take a hugely-creditable third place which saw him finish the series in fifth overall.
Alistair’s legacy and other interests
While his Olympic exploits – inspiring the likes of Yee and many others – has already had a tangible effect, his work with brother Jonny in setting up the Brownlee Foundation could yet prove to be his most lasting legacy.
In the summer of 2023, the number of kids doing a Brownlee Foundation event passed the 50,000 mark, and that number is now over 65,000. Earlier this year they purchased TriHard Events, whose races include the iconic Helvellyn Triathlon, and announced that they would be donating the money raised from the events to the Brownlee Foundation to deliver more free mini triathlons for children in primary schools.
The Brownlee Centre in their home town of Leeds underlines the impact they have made in Yorkshire, with the area continuing to be one of the key triathlon training bases in the UK.
The brothers were also instrumental in bringing the WTCS event to Leeds in 2016, which saw the world’s greatest triathletes race in front of huge Yorkshire crowds – and a Brownlee one-two of course!
The Brownlee Fitness coaching platform is just one of his many enterprises, while he and Jonny have integral roles and investments in Brownlee Racing, one of the new pro team supertri franchises this year.
And away from the races, charity work and other projects, arguably the moment many casual fans will know Alistair best for was the brotherly love shown in Cozumel in 2016 which saw the Brownlees and triathlon go viral in mainstream media.
Jonny was on course to win the World Championships, but close to the finish in sweltering temperatures near-disaster struck. In a worrying scene his legs began to give way and he looked on the verge of collapsing, only for Alistair to catch him and almost carry him to the line.
In recent years, Alistair has also made his mark off the race course – in October 2021 he was elected to the European Olympic Committee’s Athletes’ Commission and since 2022 has been an IOC Athletes’ Commission member. In that role he was in Paris this summer and – in a full circle moment – encouraged Yee from the roadside as he began his incredible late rally for gold.
Brownlee has also had two books published with the first being ‘Swim, Bike, Run: Our Triathlon Story’, crafted with Jonny while in 2021 he released ‘Relentless’, which looked into what makes ‘sporting greatness’ through interviews with stars from a number of different sports.
It will be fascinating to see what comes next but Alistair Brownlee bows out of the competitive side of the sport with an unmatched CV thanks to those two individual gold medals – and very much on his own terms.
