Alistair Brownlee announces his return to triathlon racing following ankle surgery

Alistair Brownlee, who recently missed the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice following ankle surgery, has announced his return to a triathlon start line next month.

The double Olympic champion, whose only race so far this year came at the PTO Tour European Open in Ibiza, will again return to Spain as he looks to kickstart his 2023 season.

Revealing the news on his social media channels, Brownlee confirmed he would make his return to racing over the middle distance at Challenge Barcelona, which takes place in two weeks time on October 6.

Alistair Brownlee’s 2023 so far

Despite not achieving the result he may have hoped for in Ibiza, Brownlee had triathlon fans excited for the rest of the season following his sixth-place finish against a top field back in May, with the Brit in the mix for the podium for most of the day.

The following week, Brownlee took the win at XTERRA Weston Park in his debut over the off-road format and seemed to be in pole position for a great performance over the full distance at IRONMAN Hamburg before being forced to pull out.

From then on, the Yorkshireman faced a race against time to qualify for the IRONMAN World Championship, and after missing the last chance to qualify at IRONMAN Lake Placid, revealed that he had been dealing with a bone spur in his ankle and would not be in Nice.

Alistair on road to full fitness

Now, close to two months post surgery, Brownlee appears to be on the road back to full fitness and has been enjoying a number of gravel bike races in the UK, with a welcome win coming at the start of September up in Scotland.

Hinting in his Instagram announcement that Challenge Barcelona would be the first of more than one race in October, Brownlee still has a number of opportunities to race over the middle and full distance between now and the end of the year, and may well take this opportunity to chase down a 2024 Kona slot.