Over the past 18 months, we’ve almost certainly written as many ‘Alistair Brownlee is out’ stories, as we have race reports featuring the double Olympic Games gold medallist. It was thus a welcome sight on Sunday – and hopefully again this coming Saturday – to see the Brit racing at Challenge Barcelona.
The Netherlands’ Youri Keulen topped the podium by pulling clear in the late stages of the run, but after so many injury struggles, this was a more than solid return to racing action, with some top tier competition trailing, Alistair himself was pretty satisfied with his effort, and looking forward to racing this weekend at Challenge Peguera-Mallorca.
Another athlete who has had her share of injuries in recent years, Imogen Simmonds, continued her fine run of form – which included bronze at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship – to be a clear winner for the Pro Women on Spain.
Following up on that report from the weekend – and with great thanks to regular contributor José Luis Hourcade (www.joseluishourcade.com) – we can now bring you the story of the race in pictures too.
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Challenge Barcelona 2023 gallery
Alistair Brownlee checks out the swim courseThe Pro Men hit the waterThe Pro Women followed soon afterWilhelm Hirsch lead the way through the swimAaron Royle and Alistair Brownlee were just seconds behindEventual winner, Youri Keulen, was 14 seconds behind Alistair exiting the waterNo surprise to see Lucy Buckingham and Sara Perez Sala leading the way in the water for the Pro WomenYouri Keulen heading the lead pack in the early stagesBarcelona viewsCameron Wurf on the way to 18thOlivia Mitchell racing hard to get back towards the front of the raceBrownlee did plenty of work in the lead groupBuckingham leading the waySara Perez Sala had to withdrew during the bike leg with illnessSecond at The Championship, Germany’s Caroline Pohle added another podium to her C.V.Plenty of history around this courseImogen Simmonds continued her fine run of formBarcelona’s iconic La Sagrada FamiliaA small lead group reached T2 togetherAlistair Brownlee took the lead early in the runKeulen always had the British legend in his sightsHirsch proved to be strong across all disciplinesOlivia Mitchell ran her way to fourth positionA Simmonds win was never in doubt on the runKeulen and Brownlee would battle into the final couple of kilometresNo stopping Youri Keulen in the final stagesThe Men’s Challenge Barcelona 2023 podiumImogen Simmonds extended her winning margin to almost three minutesSimmonds, Buckingham and Pohle were the Pro Women’s podium trio
TRI247's Chief Correspondent, John has been involved in triathlon for well over 30 years, 15 of those writing on these pages, whilst he can also be found commentating for events across the UK.
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