Surprise bronze for Scot Austin

THE injury-hit Brownlee brothers refused to offer excuses after a shock defeat as they failed to make the podium in the triathlon at the Commonwealth Games.

Scot Marc Austin won a surprise bronze.

Defending champion Alistair, nursing a calf injury, dropped out of contention at the start of the run phase eventually trailing in 10th.

Jonny, who also had an interrupted build-up, finished seventh as South Africa’s Henri Schoeman claimed gold with Australia’s Jacob Birtwhistle second and Austin third.

Commonwealth triathlons consist of a 750m open-water swim, a 20km cycle and a 5km run.

Double Olympic champion Alistair led after the transition from bike to run but quickly dropped back down the field.

He said: “About three quarters of it went alright. I knew I was going to struggle on the run and I was downplaying my chances. I’ve only run a handful of times in the last month or so.

“The last few weeks has been making sure the calf is alright to make sure I could get round properly.

“The swim and bike went well and I was just trying to pull that gap out as much as possible to give Jonny the best chance. It was a shame it didn’t work out for him.”

Jonny added: “It was pretty terrible today. I didn’t feel great. I’ve had ups and downs and I was injured in January so I missed a lot of training.

“However, I thought I was going to be better than that.

“I dived in and felt pretty weak on the swim and then I’m normally one of the strongest on the bike but I didn’t feel great. Then I started running and thought ‘oh dear, I’m in trouble here.’

“I knew Henri was in good shape. My first thought was ‘I wish I was fit’ because I would have gone with him.”