Injury-hit Brownlee comes up short again in ‘awful year’

Alistair Brownlee’s hard-won status as the dominant force in men’s triathlon took another hit at Strathclyde Country Park yesterday as he was denied a podium place at the European Championships.

The double Olympic champion’s nightmare year continued as he dropped out of contention midway through the 10km run, with Frenchman Pierre Le Corre taking gold ahead of the fast-finishing Spaniard Fernando Alarza.

Brownlee, who finished fourth, has struggled with a series of injuries since also missing out on the podium at the Commonwealth Games in April. Scotland’s Marc Austin was the only Briton to pick up a triathon medal in Australia, collecting a surprise bronze, but he too disappointed yesterday and finished way down in 35th.

Brownlee admitted his frustrations have been so great in recent months that he considered his future in the sport.

“It’s been an awful year and there were times when I definitely questioned whether I wanted to carry on doing it,” he said. “It’s tough when you’ve had injury after injury. Getting up and training again is pretty hard so it was just fantastic being here. But the only thing I learned is that I’m not very fit.”

The 30-year-old, who does not intend to race in today’s mixed relay, looked strong after emerging from the swim in the leading pack.

Brownlee maintained his positioninabreakawaygroup of nine in the cycle phase, and went clear with Le Corre and Marten Van Riel – who finished third – until his lack of recent training miles took its toll. As Le Corre strode clear, Alarza took over bronze medal position, and from that moment on Brownlee was resigned to the fact another major championships would pass without a podium place.