He’s Back – Alistair Brownlee to race IRONMAN World Championship Utah
He feels fresh, he feels great and he’s officially back. Double Olympic Gold Medallist Alistair Brownlee heads to Utah next month ready to take on the world’s best in the rescheduled 2021 IRONMAN World Championships in St George.
And what a packed pro athlete start list there will be in St George on May 7th with a mix of long course and short course elites like Sebastian Kienle (DEU), Sam Long (USA) Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR), Lionel Sanders (CAN) Gustav Iden (NOR). Bart Aernouts (BEL).
There will be doubters out there who may think Brownlee cannot reach his former heights since he retired from the short-course circuit. But one has to bear in mind he never really left. His failed attempt to defend his Olympic title was primarily down to an ankle injury, although that did not stop him trying.
He had surgery on his ankle during the summer of last year and after a period of rehabilitation was back training for the men’s Pho3nix Sub7 project to attempt to complete an Iron long-distance triathlon in under seven hours.
Now admittedly the Pho3nix Sub7 race is a show-piece staged event with pacers, nonetheless, his training programme is set for racing time splits of around 45min (swim), 3hr 45min (bike) and 2hr 30min (run). That alone should tell you something about his fitness.
If Brownlee is prepared to defy the impossible in attempting to break the mythical 7-hour Iron long distance barrier then who amongst us is prepared to bet against him winning a IRONMAN World Championship
It not like Brownlee is compete stranger to longer distance. Back in 2017, he produced a phenomenal Ironman 70.3 debut in St George, Utah beating an experienced field and crossing the winning tape ahead of Canada’s Lionel Sanders, with an overall time of 3:41:58, breaking the course record.
During his rehabilitation which coincided with pandemic lockdowns he wrote a book ‘Relentless’ which is not only on ‘how a winner becomes a champion’ but also how to maintain a mindset of continued success.
We had chat with Alistair on our Podcast on how champions rise to the very top, and how they push the limits of human capability in their relentless pursuit of perfection. You can listen by clicking the link below:
Alistair Brownlee chats about the Secrets of the Sporting Elite to the TriNation Podcast Crew.
What we all can relate too is Alistair Brownlee is no different to any other triathlete. Just a masochist who just keeps torturing himself for that one almighty challenge.
And what better venue to add another world title to his extensive champions list than Ironman St. George.
Relentless: Secrets of the Sporting Elite (Author Alistair Brownlee)
You can order a copy here at Waterstones
