Glasgow 2018: Le Corre edges Alarza as Brownlee finishes fourth

Pierre Le Corre secure Men’s Individual European Champship title

That was an absolutely fantastic – and exceptionally busy – few days at the Glasgow 2018 ETU Triathlon European Championships. At the same Strathclyde Country Park venue as the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the event seemed on an equally impressive and large scale in terms on infrastructure and set up.

I was in Glasgow from Tuesday, working across all of the events as part of the on-site sports presentation team, providing the commentary and announcing in partnership with local, Graham Coull.

Three fantastic, and very different Elite races, plus some great racing on Saturday for the Age-Group European Championships too. Not only that, on Sunday around 1000 athletes took part in various Go-Tri events of many different formats too, getting their own experience of the major event infrastructure. Alas, they had the rain while – for the most part – everyone else escaped it, by the time the races too place at least.

Here is a catch-up on the action from the men’s individual race, courtesy of British Triathlon.

Brownlee fourth in dramatic European Championship triathlon

Alistair Brownlee’s return to racing didn’t result in a medal at the Glasgow 2018 European Championships, but there was drama and entertainment as France’s Pierre Le Corre won the gold medal.

Brownlee hasn’t raced since April, and his return helped draw huge crowds to Strathclyde Park. He swam and cycled brilliantly around the challenging course and held a lead in the early stages of the ten kilometre run.

However, he had to watch Le Corre and Martin Van Riel (BEL) run away, and later Fernando Alarza (ESP) pass him and relegate him to fourth place. Alarza ran from the chase pack through to second place, nearly catching Le Corre and keeping spectators on the edge of their seats until the finish.

Brownlee was pleased to be there, commenting: “I knew I was going to struggle on the run, but I enjoyed racing.”

He added: “A few things are a bit rusty. On the run I did everything I could. I’ve had a terrible six months, I’ve done a handful of running session, so off that I’m really pleased and I’m just happy to be racing.”

It was great to be back on a race course today after spending a few months wondering if it would ever happen again. Thanks @Glasgow2018 for a great event

— Alistair Brownlee (@AliBrownleetri) August 10, 2018

Gold medal winner, Le Corre, was respectful towards the double Olympic champion, commenting: “That was really tough today with Alistair Brownlee. I know he’s an opponent that is hard to beat, but today it was my day, and I’m really happy.”

Britain’s Barclay Izzard made a brilliant senior debut, his first championship full distance race. He finished ninth after a very strong run. He said: “I came to this race for experience. I didn’t know how my run form was going to be, but I just went for it. To come top ten, it’s unreal, I didn’t expect to do that.”

A superb 9th place for @barclay_izzard on his debut European Championships at @Glasgow2018 👏

Find post race reaction on our flash quotes page ➡️ https://t.co/4hS3lau62S pic.twitter.com/kU8JE9xpcp

— British Triathlon (@BritTri) August 10, 2018

Local hero Marc Austin battled to the finish after a heavy fall on the bike. He appeared to clip a bollard and lose his position in the chasing pack. Looking as if his day was over, he climbed back on his bike and finished the race.

Real shame not to perform how I had envisioned on Friday at Strathclyde but the support was amazing. A bone fracture I picked up in the crash means I’m unsure of when I’ll next race but I’ll be back as soon as I can. pic.twitter.com/mxVq7ZtYTf

— Marc Austin (@marcja94) August 12, 2018