Brownlee bid for medal is over in a flash

IT IS a game of three halves. It is an event that takes longer than a football match and involves a 1500metres swim, 40km cycle and a 10km run but that does not mean it cannot provide a lastminute winner.

The medals were shared by three of the athletes favoured in the previews but there was disappointment for the most vaunted in the triathlon at the European Championships in Strathclyde Park last night.

The perennial golden boy, Alistair Brownlee of Great Britain — gold medal winner in London and Rio — could not shake off the opposition, buckling and finishing fourth.

The solitary Scot, Marc Austin, displayed courage but could not muscle his way into contention, getting back on his bike after a crashing fall to finish the race five minutes 34 seconds behind the winner in 35th. Both showed resilience and commendable doggedness as did the other Brit, Barclay Izzard, who finished ninth.

But the drama in a compelling event came inside the final stretch. A race that took the winner — Pierre Le Corre of France — 1 hour 47 minutes and 11 seconds to complete was in the balance until the very last yards. Spain’s Fernando Alarza, who seemed to have been detached from the medal-winning positions after the swimming and cycling, looked to have found a turbo-charged engine as he chased down the leading group of Le Corre, Marten van Riel and Brownlee in the last 10,000m.

Slowly, but seemingly irresistibly, he reeled in Brownlee, whose year of injury woe had obviously deprived him of championship-level fitness, and then he caught Van Riel. Le Corre was in his sights but just out of his range. The Frenchman held on by 11 seconds.

‘I was looking at the end and I saw him coming strong,’ said Le Corre.

The sight produced a surge of adrenalin but not a sprint from the Frenchman, just a determined rhythm to the line. The gold medal winner added: ‘I’m pretty good at sprinting, but I was really tired after all the energy I gave.’

He was aware that Brownlee was not at his invincible peak. ‘Alistair’s not in his best shape right now, I could see it,’ said Le Corre. ‘But he will be back and I give thanks he was not great today.’

Brownlee was competitive in the swimming, canny and assured in the cycling section but could not find his best in the 10,000m. At the final transition, he seemed to hesitate and did not capitalise on what would normally have been a strong position for him. A year of injuries had taken its toll.

‘The only thing I learned was I’m not very fit but it was good to still come out of the swim in the front pack and ride well,’ he said. ‘I haven’t done this Olympic distance for over a year so it’s good that’s still there. If I can put more training together I can be competitive.’

Reflecting on his injury woes, he said: ‘It’s been an awful year. There were times I questioned whether I wanted to carry on doing it so, to be honest, I just enjoyed racing today.

‘It’s tough when you’ve had injury after injury after injury, getting up and training again is pretty hard, so it was just fantastic being here. I was actually enjoying a lot of that race today.’

There was little joy or consolation for Austin, the 24-year-old who trains at Stirling University. He was in the chasing pack in the cycle race but came off and seemed to injure his side. Gamely, he jumped back on his bike and finished the race. He was taken to the medical centre for treatment.