Jonathan Brownlee snatches gold from brother Alistair in epic finish at World Triathlon in Hamburg

Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) produced a thrilling finish to pip brother Alistair Brownlee (GBR) to claim victory in the World Tour Series in Hamburg.

Jonathan Brownlee snatches gold from brother Alistair in epic finish at World Triathlon in Hamburg
Jonathan Brownlee takes the race in a sprint finish – Photo Credit: Janos M. Schmidt / Triathlon.org
I thought it was going to be Alistair’s day – I thought I’d never beat him. He’s gone into this pretty unprepared but I knew I had to give everything,” Jonny said.

He was hanging on through the whole run. Alistair doesn’t like to run behind people, he likes to run upfront. I got to the last bit and he got past me. I was pretty feeling comfortable. I was thinking the whole way round I couldn’t remember if I was meant to finish on the right hand side or the left hand side but it was all good.”

The Brownlee brothers and Javier Gomez (ESP) dominated throughout and were still shoulder to shoulder as the race entered the last kilometre of the 5km run. Gomez started to fall back as the Brownlees upped the pace and it looked like Alistair would claim his first victory in Hamburg, edging ahead of Jonathan in the closing stages.

“I think I went a bit too early on that last corner. I was a bit confident but Jonny’s a clever old sod and he kept a bit back,” Alistair said.

But younger brother Jonathan found one final burst of energy on the blue mat to snatch victory in a blistering 51 minutes and five seconds. Alistair registered the same time to claim silver, while Gomez finished in 51:14 for bronze. In doing so Gomez maintain his position at the top of the rankings.

With nine of the top ten ranked athletes appearing in Hamburg, it promised to be a strong race, which proved to be the case from the start in an extremely fast swim. Richard Varga (SVK) was first out of the water in 8:42, closely followed by Henri Schoeman (RSA) and both Brownlee brothers.

Hamburg signalled the first time the Brownlee brothers and Gomez – medallists at London 2012 – had competed against each since the Olympic Games. The trio are also the only athletes to have won a WTS event in 2013 and it didn’t take long before the three were in prime position for the podium again.

By the half-way stage of the 20km bike, the Brownlees and Gomez formed the front of a breakaway group of nine which had created a 20-second lead. Alessandro Fabian (ITA) and Ryan Sissons (NZL) were also part of the leading group, with Fabian edging in front as the pack began the third of four laps.

“I wanted to get away on the bike and push on and we managed to do that but the other guys in the group didn’t work with us,” Alistair Brownlee said. “If any of them want to learn how to ride a bike, ring me up and I’ll give them some tips because they didn’t know what they were doing out there today.”

The nine-strong group entered transition together, with the Brownlees, Gomez and Schoeman gaining a few metres advantage in the early stages of the 5km run.

Gomez, who won the Hamburg race in 2010, continued to stay with the British brothers as they quickened the pace in the last kilometre before the brothers’ epic finale. His third place performance was the fourth time he’s made the podium in Hamburg.

Hamburg – World Triathlon Hamburg   – 20 July 2013

Final Results – Elite Men – 750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run

PosAthleteCountryTimeSwimBikeRun
1Jonathan BrownleeGBR0:51:050:08:470:27:180:14:14
2Alistair BrownleeGBR0:51:050:08:450:27:150:14:15
3Javier GomezESP0:51:140:08:520:27:140:14:23
4Richard MurrayRSA0:51:420:09:010:27:370:14:19
5Mario MolaESP0:51:460:08:570:27:400:14:22
6Sven RiedererSUI0:51:500:08:550:27:390:14:29
7Aurelien RaphaelFRA0:51:530:08:500:27:120:15:00
8Alessandro FabianITA0:51:550:08:510:27:110:15:05
9Ryan SissonsNZL0:52:000:08:530:27:100:15:07
10Jan FrodenoGER0:52:020:08:550:27:380:14:43
11Henri SchoemanRSA0:52:080:08:430:27:200:15:18
12Dmitry PolyanskiyRUS0:52:120:08:500:27:430:14:43
13Vincent LuisFRA0:52:170:08:500:27:110:15:25
14Joao PereiraPOR0:52:200:09:010:27:380:14:56
15Tony MoulaiFRA0:52:320:09:020:27:340:15:08
16Pierre Le CorreFRA0:52:320:09:080:27:240:15:09
17Florin SalvisbergSUI0:52:340:09:110:27:270:15:13
18Aaron RoyleAUS0:52:390:08:520:27:130:15:46
19Richard VargaSVK0:52:390:08:420:27:530:15:14
20Andrew YorkeCAN0:52:430:09:070:27:300:15:20
21Joe MaloyUSA0:52:470:08:580:27:390:15:23
22Igor PolyanskiyRUS0:52:510:08:490:27:510:15:23
23Dan WilsonAUS0:52:560:09:030:27:290:15:36
24Grégory RouaultFRA0:53:020:09:260:28:090:14:39
25Kyle JonesCAN0:53:030:09:130:28:220:14:40
26Gonzalo Raul TellecheaARG0:53:050:09:260:28:110:14:41
27Maximilian SchwetzGER0:53:100:08:490:27:450:15:45
28Marco Van Der StelNED0:53:110:09:040:27:290:15:47
29Matt ChrabotUSA0:53:110:09:090:27:230:15:45
30Franz LoeschkeGER0:53:120:09:220:28:120:14:51
31Davide UccellariITA0:53:190:09:260:28:130:14:54
32Cameron GoodAUS0:53:220:09:230:28:110:14:59
33Adam BowdenGBR0:53:230:09:280:28:090:14:55
34Ryan BailieAUS0:53:240:09:230:28:080:15:01
35Crisanto GrajalesMEX0:53:240:09:250:28:070:15:03
36Christian ProchnowGER0:53:260:09:210:28:120:15:02
37Brendan SextonAUS0:53:320:09:310:28:060:15:07
38David McnameeGBR0:53:340:09:200:28:120:15:09
39Diogo SclebinBRA0:53:340:09:200:28:160:15:06
40Yuichi HosodaJPN0:53:350:08:590:27:360:16:09
41Oleksiy SyutkinUKR0:53:360:09:180:28:200:15:12
42Andrew MccartneyCAN0:53:380:08:530:27:460:16:10
43Irving PerezMEX0:53:390:08:550:27:480:16:07
44Aaron HarrisGBR0:53:420:09:190:28:140:15:21
45Tony DoddsNZL0:53:470:09:080:28:280:15:20
46Gregory BillingtonUSA0:53:480:09:140:28:200:15:26
47Premysl SvarcCZE0:53:490:09:270:28:100:15:20
48Hirokatsu TayamaJPN0:53:500:09:010:27:370:16:21
49Reinaldo ColucciBRA0:53:530:09:250:28:110:15:26
50Simon De CuyperBEL0:53:550:09:310:28:020:15:34
51Bryce McmasterNZL0:53:570:08:530:27:420:16:27
52Peter KerrAUS0:54:000:09:060:28:280:15:34
53Andrey BryukhankovRUS0:54:030:09:100:28:270:15:32
54Jesus GomarESP0:54:130:09:220:28:090:15:50
55Matthew SharpGBR0:54:150:09:250:28:120:15:48
56Bruno MatheusBRA0:54:330:09:230:28:110:16:10
57Akos VanekHUN0:54:360:09:130:28:200:16:15
58Ryosuke YamamotoJPN0:54:480:09:150:28:220:16:22
DNFLaurent VidalFRA0:00:000:09:290:28:010:00:00
DSQGregor BuchholzGER0:00:000:00:000:00:000:00:00
DSQSergio SarmientoMEX0:00:000:00:000:00:000:00:00
DSQLuciano TacconeARG0:00:000:00:000:00:000:00:00
DSQIvan IvanovUKR0:00:000:00:000:00:000:00:00
DSQRostyslav PevtsovUKR0:00:000:00:000:00:000:00:00
DNSJonathan ZipfGER0:00:000:00:000:00:000:00:00