Brownlee brothers set to light up Rio Oly Triathlon

MUMBAI, July 26, (RTRS): Triathlon at the picturesque Copacabana could boil down to yet another sibling rivalry with Jonny Brownlee sensing an opportunity to upstage elder brother and Olympic champion Alistair in the men’s event at next month’s Rio Games.

Spectators are expected to swarm to the venue of triathlon, which made its Games debut at Sydney in 2000, at Rio’s iconic Copacabana beach, with the cycle section around the hills of dos Cabritos and do Cantalgo, concluding with laps by the shoreline.

Spain’s Javier Gomez, the only triathlete to win five world titles, had split the ‘Brownlee Brothers’ on the podium at the London Olympics in 2012.

In that race four years back, the 28-year-old Alistair ground down Gomez and his brother Jonny, who was hurt by a 15-second time penalty for mounting his bike too early in the transition, on the 10-kilometre run to surge away to a win.

Two years later Jonny again finished behind Alistair, this time second, at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

The stage will be set once again for them to strive for glory at Rio with Gomez pulling out of the Games after fracturing his left arm in a bicycle accident. Both brothers have been hampered by injuries in the past year with Alistair undergoing a surgery on his Achilles tendon.

Alistair, however, showed he has recovered enough to defend his title in Rio with an emphatic win in a world series race in Leeds last month.

Jonny, who also suffered a stress fracture in his left femur earlier this year, finished 32 seconds behind him and will be hoping to turn the tables on his elder brother in Rio.