Month: March 2021

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He also secured the 2011 ITU World Triathlon Series with a Grand Final victory in Beijing, before storming to a Beijing International Triathlon victory here in 2016.

We caught up with the two-time Olympic champ ahead of this weekend’s Beijing International Triathlon to discuss his Chinese tri memories, his ‘terrible’ year of 2018 and that Ironman 70.3 Worlds showdown with Jan Frodeno…

220: You and Beijing have created some tri moments.

Alistair: It takes me back to the 2008 Olympics being here in Beijing as that was a really special time for me. Going to your first Olympics is really exciting, but it feels like a long time ago now.

It’s surprised me how many of the age-group field here at the Beijing International Triathlon are domestic triathletes. I even met an athlete earlier who’d come from Taiwan to see you race.

In 2008, triathlon wasn’t on the radar in China at all so to have 2,000 people racing here tomorrow is testament to the sport. And it’s amazing that some people from the region, some of whom don’t speak any English, know who I am now.

The Beijing International offers a rare non-drafting Olympic-distance bike course. Is that a draw of racing here?

There used to be a lot of non-drafting Olympic races, back in the Des Moines days, and it’s enjoyable to be able to mix up different kinds of racing. I’ve spent the last couple of seasons not being committed to the World Tri Series and being flexible to mix up my racing.

That was a stunning race in South Africa at the Ironman 70.3 Worlds (where Ali came second behind Jan Frodeno in early September). How do you look back on that experience?

I was really pleased with that race as I’ve had a terrible year with all different kinds of things, but I threw everything at it in the weeks before and on the day I couldn’t have hoped for a better performance. Obviously I wasn’t immensely happy with the result, but knowing there’s nothing more you can do on the day is all you can do. It’s taken me a long time to recover from that race.

Can you elaborate on what’s been tough this season?

I had an operation on my hip this time last year and that worked well, but it’s tough to return and get your body going again after that much time out. That was mentally tough to have one thing after another happening when all you want to do is go out and train as hard as you can.

You have been training and racing hard for a long time now…

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I definitely think there’s a degree of wear and tear. I remember saying in interviews about 10 years ago that ‘I’d prefer to be the best I could ever be and train as hard as I can, even if it shortens my career’. When you say that as a rather confident 20-year-old, you never think it’ll actually shorten your career but I have some perspective on that now.

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He also secured the 2011 ITU World Triathlon Series with a Grand Final victory in Beijing, before storming to a Beijing International Triathlon victory here in 2016.

We caught up with the two-time Olympic champ ahead of this weekend’s Beijing International Triathlon to discuss his Chinese tri memories, his ‘terrible’ year of 2018 and that Ironman 70.3 Worlds showdown with Jan Frodeno…

220: You and Beijing have created some tri moments.

Alistair: It takes me back to the 2008 Olympics being here in Beijing as that was a really special time for me. Going to your first Olympics is really exciting, but it feels like a long time ago now.

It’s surprised me how many of the age-group field here at the Beijing International Triathlon are domestic triathletes. I even met an athlete earlier who’d come from Taiwan to see you race.

In 2008, triathlon wasn’t on the radar in China at all so to have 2,000 people racing here tomorrow is testament to the sport. And it’s amazing that some people from the region, some of whom don’t speak any English, know who I am now.

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The Beijing International offers a rare non-drafting Olympic-distance bike course. Is that a draw of racing here?

There used to be a lot of non-drafting Olympic races, back in the Des Moines days, and it’s enjoyable to be able to mix up different kinds of racing. I’ve spent the last couple of seasons not being committed to the World Tri Series and being flexible to mix up my racing.

That was a stunning race in South Africa at the Ironman 70.3 Worlds (where Ali came second behind Jan Frodeno in early September). How do you look back on that experience?

I was really pleased with that race as I’ve had a terrible year with all different kinds of things, but I threw everything at it in the weeks before and on the day I couldn’t have hoped for a better performance. Obviously I wasn’t immensely happy with the result, but knowing there’s nothing more you can do on the day is all you can do. It’s taken me a long time to recover from that race.

Can you elaborate on what’s been tough this season?

I had an operation on my hip this time last year and that worked well, but it’s tough to return and get your body going again after that much time out. That was mentally tough to have one thing after another happening when all you want to do is go out and train as hard as you can.

You have been training and racing hard for a long time now…

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I definitely think there’s a degree of wear and tear. I remember saying in interviews about 10 years ago that ‘I’d prefer to be the best I could ever be and train as hard as I can, even if it shortens my career’. When you say that as a rather confident 20-year-old, you never think it’ll actually shorten your career but I have some perspective on that now.

But the affable Brownlee has been on reliably-good form here at the Beijing International Triathlon in China, mixing with the locals at tourist sites around the city and with the healthy pro contingent vying for some of the healthy prize purse.

We’ve been lucky enough to spend time with Jonny and the pro field in Beijing ahead of our races in the Chinese capital on Sunday 23 September, where the younger Brownlee will join Alistair in a non-drafting challenge on the bike course in a strong pro field of 30 and 220 will be bringing up the rear as part of the 2,000-strong age-group field.

220: So you’re on the Scott Plasma tri bike tomorrow.

Jonny: I last raced on a tri bike back at Abu Dhabi International in 2014, and I’ve put it in the cupboard since then. I since got a new bike sponsor in Scott Bikes and I got it out before the Gold Coast race. I’ve only ridden it eight or nine times as I’ve been concentrating on the World Tri Series.

But here we are, and I’m feeling a lot more comfortable on it than I thought I would. The first time on it I felt really good and I’ve enjoyed riding it. I tell myself that it’s pedalling, strength and power and, if you can do that on a road bike you can do that one a TT bike. But I haven’t made it easy on myself in this field, with one of the strongest non-drafting fields I’ve seen in a long time.

We’ve done a tour of the 40km course and it’s going to be a technical one out there.

I’d actually much prefer a technical, up and down course that a pure flat and straight one. That’s where I’ll struggle against the strong TT guys like [American non-drafting specialist] Cameron Dye as they can put down their power.

How much have you done in terms of TT bike positioning and wind tunnel analysis?

Absolutely nothing. My focus was the Grand Final, and that didn’t go as planned, but when I take non-drafting racing more seriously than that’s something I certainly do with the help of Scott bikes. But so far I did it all myself and with the help of [fellow Brit pro] Mark Buckingham. I was in my garage and Bucko came and took some videos of me.

From the outside it seems to have been a tough season for you, starting with missing the top five at the Commonwealth Games. How do you assess it?

It’s been the worst season of my career. I made a lot of mistakes and have had some bad luck along the way. I’m not used to getting ready for a race as early as the Commonwealth Games in April. I’ve a tried and tested way of peaking for August, so this year was different for me. I panicked and tried to train too hard before April and then got a stress response in my femur and that meant six weeks off from running.

And then there was your emotional DNF in Leeds in June.

I went home and set the reset button for Leeds and was feeling really good before that, until I got sick from a stomach bug before the race. Going into the race I didn’t feel quite right, but athletes are the best people in the world at lying to themselves. I quickly realised I wasn’t fine in the race and was on an IV drip as soon as it finished. I’m hoping to get all my bad luck out of the way in 2018.

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What’s left for you in 2018?

Positively I want to rescue my season here in Beijing and my remaining races at the Super League Triathlon races in Jersey and hopefully Malta and Mallorca. The Super League events are great fun and a different challenge.

Is it hard to stay motivated going back to the ITU World Tri Series when you’ve had races such as Beijing and the Super League?

I’ve been to the same races and places for many years now with the ITU WTS. I still enjoy it and it’s still real top-end racing and hugely competitive. My main goal over the next couple of years is to go to Tokyo and get an Olympic medal. And I have to do the ITU racing to achieve that. After that I’ll be ready for a change.

Meaning you’ll follow Alistair into Ironman 70.3?

Yes. I’ve enjoyed being out here in Beijing and the relaxed side of it; the smaller field and everyone being out here together. Ask me tomorrow after the race and I might hate it, but I’ll definitely be ready for a change after 2020 to the longer stuff.

As for Tokyo, has the heat preparation started already?

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I’ve turned my conservatory into a head chamber, so heaters in there and wall paper strippers. We’re looking at pre-race camps to go out to before the race. But I believe with the British Triathlon system we’ve got that I’ll go out there as prepared as I can be.

But the affable Brownlee has been on reliably-good form here at the Beijing International Triathlon in China, mixing with the locals at tourist sites around the city and with the healthy pro contingent vying for some of the healthy prize purse.

We’ve been lucky enough to spend time with Jonny and the pro field in Beijing ahead of our races in the Chinese capital on Sunday 23 September, where the younger Brownlee will join Alistair in a non-drafting challenge on the bike course in a strong pro field of 30 and 220 will be bringing up the rear as part of the 2,000-strong age-group field.

220: So you’re on the Scott Plasma tri bike tomorrow.

Jonny: I last raced on a tri bike back at Abu Dhabi International in 2014, and I’ve put it in the cupboard since then. I since got a new bike sponsor in Scott Bikes and I got it out before the Gold Coast race. I’ve only ridden it eight or nine times as I’ve been concentrating on the World Tri Series.

But here we are, and I’m feeling a lot more comfortable on it than I thought I would. The first time on it I felt really good and I’ve enjoyed riding it. I tell myself that it’s pedalling, strength and power and, if you can do that on a road bike you can do that one a TT bike. But I haven’t made it easy on myself in this field, with one of the strongest non-drafting fields I’ve seen in a long time.

We’ve done a tour of the 40km course and it’s going to be a technical one out there.

I’d actually much prefer a technical, up and down course that a pure flat and straight one. That’s where I’ll struggle against the strong TT guys like [American non-drafting specialist] Cameron Dye as they can put down their power.

How much have you done in terms of TT bike positioning and wind tunnel analysis?

Absolutely nothing. My focus was the Grand Final, and that didn’t go as planned, but when I take non-drafting racing more seriously than that’s something I certainly do with the help of Scott bikes. But so far I did it all myself and with the help of [fellow Brit pro] Mark Buckingham. I was in my garage and Bucko came and took some videos of me.

From the outside it seems to have been a tough season for you, starting with missing the top five at the Commonwealth Games. How do you assess it?

It’s been the worst season of my career. I made a lot of mistakes and have had some bad luck along the way. I’m not used to getting ready for a race as early as the Commonwealth Games in April. I’ve a tried and tested way of peaking for August, so this year was different for me. I panicked and tried to train too hard before April and then got a stress response in my femur and that meant six weeks off from running.

And then there was your emotional DNF in Leeds in June.

I went home and set the reset button for Leeds and was feeling really good before that, until I got sick from a stomach bug before the race. Going into the race I didn’t feel quite right, but athletes are the best people in the world at lying to themselves. I quickly realised I wasn’t fine in the race and was on an IV drip as soon as it finished. I’m hoping to get all my bad luck out of the way in 2018.

What’s left for you in 2018?

Positively I want to rescue my season here in Beijing and my remaining races at the Super League Triathlon races in Jersey and hopefully Malta and Mallorca. The Super League events are great fun and a different challenge.

Is it hard to stay motivated going back to the ITU World Tri Series when you’ve had races such as Beijing and the Super League?

I’ve been to the same races and places for many years now with the ITU WTS. I still enjoy it and it’s still real top-end racing and hugely competitive. My main goal over the next couple of years is to go to Tokyo and get an Olympic medal. And I have to do the ITU racing to achieve that. After that I’ll be ready for a change.

Meaning you’ll follow Alistair into Ironman 70.3?

Yes. I’ve enjoyed being out here in Beijing and the relaxed side of it; the smaller field and everyone being out here together. Ask me tomorrow after the race and I might hate it, but I’ll definitely be ready for a change after 2020 to the longer stuff.

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As for Tokyo, has the heat preparation started already?

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I’ve turned my conservatory into a head chamber, so heaters in there and wall paper strippers. We’re looking at pre-race camps to go out to before the race. But I believe with the British Triathlon system we’ve got that I’ll go out there as prepared as I can be.

In breaking the tape, Jonny beat a host of non-drafting specialists (including American Cameron Dye), the Commonwealth Games champion Henri Schoeman as well as his brother Alistair, who came home in fourth.

Glorious if gusty conditions greeted the athletes at daybreak in the district of Fengtai, to the south west of Beijing, this morning, with a strong pro field battling for the $100,000 prize purse and leading out the age-groupers in the non-drafting Olympic-distance event.

The 1.5km swim took place in the choppy waters of the Garden Expo Lake, and South Africa’s Schoeman was first out of the water with Jonny and U.S. athlete Ben Kanute in hot pursuit. Alistair was back in sixth.

Onto the 40km bike and, after some swift TT action on the closed highways of the city’s outskirts, Kanute led Jonny and Cameron Dye to the top of the Qianling Mountain, the area’s highest peak. That would change by T2 after Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt and Schoeman edged past Kanute, before Jonny pushed the pace to take the lead at the 2km stage.

At 4km arrived the course’s biggest challenge: the 280 step ascent of the Garden Expo Park. Yet Jonny continued to seize the initiative over the reigning Beijing champ Schoeman and led to the finish line after 1:51:37 of racing, just nine seconds ahead of Blummentfelt and 21secs ahead of Schoeman.

The result marks an upturn in fortunes for the younger Brownlee, who’s witnessed Schoeman win Commonwealth Games gold and Mario Mola take ITU WTS glory in 2018.

Alistair, meanwhile, would finish fourth and would admit after the race that he ‘had to dig in as he hasn’t felt like himself for the last few weeks’ following his epic Ironman 70.3 Worlds showdown with Jan Frodeno.

GENTLE ON A ROLL

The women’s event was won by Australia’s Ashleigh Gentle just a week after her enthralling victory over Vicky Holland at the ITU Grand Final in the Gold Coast.

Gentle was led out of the water by the Brit pair of Lucy Hall and Non Stanford, and that trio would continue to dominate the race throughout over a field that included the 2012 Olympic Games silver medallist Lisa Norden, former ITU World Champ Paula Findlay, as well as ITU veterans Andrea Hewitt and Barbara Riveros Diaz.

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Gentle would take control on the run, winning in 2:05:55 ahead of Stanford (2:07:52) and Lucy Hall (2:09:12) who ensured that the Brit racers occupied three of the top six podium places.

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In breaking the tape, Jonny beat a host of non-drafting specialists (including American Cameron Dye), the Commonwealth Games champion Henri Schoeman as well as his brother Alistair, who came home in fourth.

Glorious if gusty conditions greeted the athletes at daybreak in the district of Fengtai, to the south west of Beijing, this morning, with a strong pro field battling for the $100,000 prize purse and leading out the age-groupers in the non-drafting Olympic-distance event.

The 1.5km swim took place in the choppy waters of the Garden Expo Lake, and South Africa’s Schoeman was first out of the water with Jonny and U.S. athlete Ben Kanute in hot pursuit. Alistair was back in sixth.

Onto the 40km bike and, after some swift TT action on the closed highways of the city’s outskirts, Kanute led Jonny and Cameron Dye to the top of the Qianling Mountain, the area’s highest peak. That would change by T2 after Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt and Schoeman edged past Kanute, before Jonny pushed the pace to take the lead at the 2km stage.

At 4km arrived the course’s biggest challenge: the 280 step ascent of the Garden Expo Park. Yet Jonny continued to seize the initiative over the reigning Beijing champ Schoeman and led to the finish line after 1:51:37 of racing, just nine seconds ahead of Blummentfelt and 21secs ahead of Schoeman.

The result marks an upturn in fortunes for the younger Brownlee, who’s witnessed Schoeman win Commonwealth Games gold and Mario Mola take ITU WTS glory in 2018.

Alistair, meanwhile, would finish fourth and would admit after the race that he ‘had to dig in as he hasn’t felt like himself for the last few weeks’ following his epic Ironman 70.3 Worlds showdown with Jan Frodeno.

GENTLE ON A ROLL

The women’s event was won by Australia’s Ashleigh Gentle just a week after her enthralling victory over Vicky Holland at the ITU Grand Final in the Gold Coast.

Gentle was led out of the water by the Brit pair of Lucy Hall and Non Stanford, and that trio would continue to dominate the race throughout over a field that included the 2012 Olympic Games silver medallist Lisa Norden, former ITU World Champ Paula Findlay, as well as ITU veterans Andrea Hewitt and Barbara Riveros Diaz.

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Gentle would take control on the run, winning in 2:05:55 ahead of Stanford (2:07:52) and Lucy Hall (2:09:12) who ensured that the Brit racers occupied three of the top six podium places.

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