Legendary triathlete Jonny Brownlee crossed the finish line with his baby son Freddie as he celebrated making history at Supertri Blenheim Palace, becoming the first athlete ever to complete 10 sprint-distance triathlons across a single weekend.
The three-time Olympic medallist crossed the final finish line at 3:18pm on Sunday to set a record that had never previously been attempted, having raced wave after wave alongside the thousands of amateur athletes who made up the weekend’s field.
In total, Brownlee covered roughly 7.5km of swimming, 200km of cycling and 50km of running, as he completed ten full sprint-distance triathlons – a 750m swim, a 20km bike on closed roads through the palace grounds and a 5km run – across two days of the Weekend Warrior challenge.
Changing perceptions of sport
The athlete, who won mixed relay gold at the Tokyo Olympics, having already won bronze and silver in London and Rio, was met at the finish line by his wife Fi and their seven-month-old son, Freddie.
“This challenge is what sport is all about. If you had asked me ten years ago, I would have said, ‘It’s all about every second counts, or am I missing training by being here? I can’t talk to people because I need to focus on my race,” he said.
“Now I realise sport is more than that. It’s great to see everyone over the weekend have their own challenges and goals, helping and inspiring each other along the way. I love seeing people be active and see people doing sport. I got inspiration from people as I went around.
“Fi and Freddie are a massive support, and when I was getting a bit tired on Saturday, I thought all I had to do was to get to the finish line, and I could give Fi and Freddie a big cuddle, and it’s all ok.
“Your perspective changes in life. When I raced here in 2012, I would never have thought I would say this, but there are more important things in life than sport.”
A true race against the clock
A race against the clock. The defining challenge was never the distance but the fixed daily swim cut-off times, after which no further race could begin. Saturday’s swim closed at 15:40 and Sunday’s at 14:20, leaving Brownlee a finite window each day and no room to drift.
With each triathlon taking a little over an hour to race, plus the time to get back to the swim start and join the next wave, he had to hold a turnaround of roughly 75 minutes race after race to get every swim away in time.
Sunday was the tighter test. Its window allowed room for only four races on legs that had already raced six times the day before, with the final swim needing to start before the 14:20 cut-off.
Brownlee answered it emphatically, getting his tenth and final swim underway at 14:07, before completing the lap to seal the record.
How the weekend unfolded
Brownlee set off at 09:09 on Saturday and was metronomic through the day, his swims starting almost exactly 75 minutes apart, and his early triathlons each raced in a little under 68 minutes.
The even pacing built a comfortable cushion against the cut-off, and with day one’s six races secured, he eased through the final lap before banking the set at 16:45.
After overnight recovery, he came out quicker on Sunday, just as he had said he would need to, opening day two with his fastest triathlon of the weekend and holding that sharper pace across all four races.
The tenth and final swim cleared the cut-off with room to spare, and he ran the last lap
home to a record finish at 15:18.
The ten triathlon timings
- Triathlon 1 – race time 1:06:57 (7:22 transition)
- Triathlon 2 – race time 1:08:47 (6:43 transition)
- Triathlon 3 – race time 1:07:57 (7:10 transition)
- Triathlon 4 – race time 1:07:44 (6:17 transition)
- Triathlon 5 – race time 1:12:27 (6:28 transition)
- Triathlon 6 – race time 1:17:42 (end of day one)
- Triathlon 7 – race time 1:05:21 (5:36 transition)
- Triathlon 8 – race time 1:06:47 (6:23 transition)
- Triathlon 9 – race time 1:07:09 (6:19 transition)
- Triathlon 10 – race time 1:11:16
Total time: 12:24:25
Jonny added: “My legs actually feel quite good. Yesterday (Saturday) was the biggest challenge, and mentally, when I was two or three in, the end felt so far away. The wind was coming in sideways, and I wasn’t sure I could do it. I came back with four more on Sunday, and it was easier to get near the end. The weather was better, and spirits were higher.”
Supertri Blenheim Palace took place across the weekend at the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Oxfordshire, the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill, where the triathlon has been staged for more than two decades.
This year marked the first year the event was run by Supertri. It is the biggest triathlon in the UK and one of the five largest in the world by participant numbers, with entry options spanning SuperSprint, Sprint, Sprint Relay and the Weekend Warrior, alongside a Supertri Pro Series race.
Brownlee has a long history at the venue: he and his brother Alistair raced here as a warm-up ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Games, famously finishing in a dead heat for first.
