Brownlee keeps world crown in family
Britain's Jonathan Brownlee capped a remarkable year for his family
when he claimed the world men's triathlon crown after finishing second
to Spain's Javier Gomez in the world series grand final on Sunday.
Brownlee's overall victory comes after his brother Alistair's
gold-medal winning performance at the London Olympics to give the
Brownlee family the two major titles in the sport.
Alistair Brownlee, the defending world champion, was forced to miss
races earlier this year through injury and an appendix operation meant
he missed the season finale.
Jonathan Brownlee, who was third at the London Olympics, and Gomez,
the silver medallist, were shoulder-to-shoulder throughout the
10-kilometre run before the Spaniard narrowly inched ahead in a sprint
finish.
In windy and rainy conditions over a difficult hilly course, Gomez,
who finished second in the triathlon series, timed two hours and 30
seconds, just two seconds ahead of Brownlee.
“To keep the title in the family is pretty special,” Brownlee, 22,
said. “It's been a great year more than anything.
“If at the start of the year, someone said that Alistair would be
Olympic champion, and I would be Olympic bronze medallist and world
champion as well, I would definitely have taken that.” Russian Dmitry
Polyanskiy finished seventh in Auckland to claim third place in the
final world series standings.
AFP |