Triathlon legend Alistair Brownlee notched his best T100 result to date in the Dubai Grand Final – overcoming a challenging lead-in to the race as well as a series of setbacks during it.
Injury had plagued the double-Olympic champion in the previous couple of years but his entire focus in 2024 has been on the T100 Triathlon World Tour.
He’s raced all seven events, finishing fifth in the opener in Miami and then fourth in Ibiza but until now a podium had eluded him.
And he’s had to deal with more than his fair share of challenges along the way.
He led well into the run in Miami before slowing to a walk in the searing heat and he was hit with a borderline dismount penalty in Singapore.
Then in Ibiza he became the first man in T100 history to pick up a drafting penalty on the bike – something that would be repeated last time out in Lake Las Vegas!
Unlucky transitions
And fair to say it wasn’t exactly plain sailing in Dubai.
To start with there were two transition mishaps.
He was first out at T1 only to drop a bottle after pushing his bike over a bump.
He stopped to retrieve that and then worked his way back to the front of the field.
Thankfully this time there wasn’t an unwanted hat-trick of drafting penalties and going into T2 he was part of a closely-packed front six.
But he would emerge in sixth position, 12 seconds behind, after he lost a shoe just before racking his back.
Again he didn’t panic and as the run developed it was clear he was pacing it perfectly and in with a real chance of a first T100 podium as he closed in on third-placed Kyle Smith.
But just as the catch was about to come, disaster nearly struck as he slipped on some loose gravel and tumbled towards the floor.
Once again though he was able to rescue the situation, reel in the Kiwi for a second time and overtake late on to claim a third spot which left him in fifth overall for the series – well inside the top 10 who are offered permanent contracts for the 2025 T100 season.
‘I just had to do what I could’
And speaking afterwards on the live broadcast, he admitted: “I needed some stars to align for me and thankfully that’s what happened.”
Of the fall on the run he said: “Yeah, it was just when I caught him as well – it really couldn’t have been any worse timing.
“I was running down the hill as quickly as I could and I was pushing it around some gravel on the corner but in terms of the things that could have gone wrong, that’s a minor one.”
Reminded by Jan Frodeno of the T1 hiccup, he added: “I’d forgotten about the bottle in T1 to be honest, but that feels like a long time ago!
“But you know what triathlon is like, things very rarely go perfectly and you have to be able to train and prepare – and try to be able to deal with the stuff that goes wrong.
“I literally need lots of stars to align because in terms of my physical ability I’ve been much fitter at some other races this year but I’ve just had to do what I could do today.”
And asked about the build-up to the race, Brownlee revealed: “The last two months have been horrific. I’ve hardly done any sessions. I’ve done one bike session since Ibiza, maybe two run sessions, one hard swim session. It’s been so bad!
“I did a bike session last Sunday and that was the first decent thing I’ve done on the bike since Ibiza. I thought it was kind of good I’ve still got it because it’s not been there for about the last five weeks.”
Talking about the season as a whole and the fact that he’s now managed to finish fifth overall, he added: “My thinking was exactly like this – I can’t put all my eggs in a few baskets these days, there are too many uncontrollables.
“I have to spin the dice, turn up to the races with whatever form I’ve got and see what happens.”
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