Jonny Brownlee to miss Arena Games finale in London

Jonny Brownlee won’t now be taking part in Super League Triathlon’s Arena Games finale in London this weekend.

The triple-Olympic medallist had been on the early start list but now doesn’t feature among what’s still a star-studded 60 names who will be in action from Friday’s heats onwards – check out our full guide to the event which has just gone live.

It includes the winners of all the Arena Games events so far this season, last year’s London winner Cassandre Beaugrand and even the IRONMAN World Champion Gustav Iden.

Olympic qualification the priority

Brownlee had said on Instagram at the weekend: “Been a month of ups and downs with illness and niggles,” and we understand that swerving London and the shortest, sharpest format of the sport is purely a precaution in what’s a crucial season in terms of the Olympic qualification process.

That’s been underlined by the fact that he rode in a circuit race alongside brother Alistair at the end of last week and had a VO2 max session in the pool on Tuesday morning.

His last race came at the Europe Triathlon Cup Quarteira just over a week ago when he was seventh to Norway’s Vetle Thorn.

The priority in the coming months will be the WTCS schedule and the Olympic test event as he looks to book his spot for Paris 2024.