NEWS

Alistair Brownlee claims his fourth European title

By Paul Groves | 01 Jun, 2019
{article_title}

The Double Olympic gold medallist Alistair Brownlee has proved the world that he is seriously back in racing in the ITU circuit. Two weeks after claiming the victory in the ITU Cagliari World Cup, the British has shown a dominant performance in Weert to claim his fourth European title of his career, only a week before heading to his home-town Leeds for his debut in the 2019 WTS season. Silver medal in the European Championships was for Joao Silva (POR), with the fastest run of the day, while Belgian Gelle Jeens claimed the bronze medal.

With the water still cold enough for wetsuits, the air temperature was pushing the mercury higher and higher and as it neared 30C, the final run would be punishing. As expected, the front end of the swim was a feast for Alistair Brownlee, as the first lap was led by Igor Polyanskiy (RUS) and Márk Dévay (HUN). The Brit was tucked in the draft as the first six athletes made their way back into the water.

The swim delivered Polyanskiy, Dévay, Brownlee, Antonio Serrat Seoane (ESP) and Martin Van Riel (BEL) onto the blue carpet and in a flash they were out on the bike course, with a long trail of athletes behind them. The acceleration was immediate and suddenly the group was split as the powerful leaders, joined by another five, started to push the watts. The journey to Weert had the wind behind them and this was used to the full advantage and soon enough this group had established a lead of 22 seconds.

As the laps passed, the lead was extended to 30 seconds and then 40 and with the crowds now lining the course around the “Bassin”, T2 was a flash of athletes.

Out now onto the run course and soon enough it was Brownlee kicking up the pace and leaving Van Riel, Serrat and Maximillian Schwetz (GER). At the end of the first lap, his lead was 14 seconds but in less than 200m he had added another 3 to this.

Lap after lap his power was taking him further and further away from the chasing athletes. Van Riel looked desperate and was soon struggling but behind him, Joao Pereira was having the run of his life and had moved up through the pack to challenge. Some meters behind the Portuguese, another Belgian, Jelle Geens, along with Vicente Hernandez (ESP) were pushing hard, passing athletes meter after meter and aproaching the leaders.

The final metres saw Brownlee grab the Union flag from the spectators to cross the finish line by himself, smiling and not looking back, to claim his 4th European title, after his last victory in Kitzbühel in 2014. The silver medal, that had looked certain to go to Van Riel, was snatched by Pereira, whose 10k was the fastest of the day. It was as if the Belgian athlete had kicked into reverse gear; his suffering was immense as compatriot Jelle Geens did just enough to grab the third spot in the podium, keepind behind him the fast-finishing Rostislav Pevtsov (AZE).

Fifth place was for another Brit who performed a fantastic run, Barclay Izzard, followed by Van Riel, Hernandez and Andreas Schilling (DEN).

Junior Race Review

In the Junior’s race, the swim saw no real breakaway and athletes were led out of the water by by Hungary’s Levente Karai, with Ricardo Batista just a stride behind, and a long line of athletes behind them.

A huge peloton made its way from the Blauwe Meertje towards the city and a couple of athletes found themselves out of the race and on the side of the road. T2 was a frantic moment and it was the skills of the Frenchman and race favourite Paul Georgenthum that saw him survive the crush and set about the 5k. At the end, it was a killer kick from Georgenthum that set in motion the final attack and he pulled away from Boris Pierre (FRA) and Ricardo Batista (POR), who crossed the finish line in second and third place.

 

 

Related Event: 2019 Weert ETU Triathlon European Championships
31 - Jun, 2019 • event pageall results
Results: Elite Men
1. Alistair Brownlee GBR 01:35:00
2. Joao Pereira POR 01:35:23
3. Jelle Geens BEL 01:35:56
4. Rostislav Pevtsov AZE 01:36:03
5. Barclay Izzard GBR 01:36:06
6. Marten Van Riel BEL 01:36:12
7. Vicente Hernandez ESP 01:36:16
8. Andreas Schilling DEN 01:36:21
9. Maximilian Schwetz GER 01:36:32
10. Shachar Sagiv ISR 01:36:38
Results: Elite Women
1. Beth Potter GBR 01:45:44
2. Sandra Dodet FRA 01:46:42
3. Claire Michel BEL 01:46:55
4. Emilie Morier FRA 01:47:49
5. Vendula Frintova CZE 01:47:59
6. Carolyn Hayes IRL 01:48:01
7. Sara Vilic AUT 01:48:12
8. Olivia Mathias GBR 01:48:20
9. Nina Eim GER 01:48:30
10. Yuliya Yelistratova UKR 01:48:33
Results: Junior Men
1. Paul Georgenthum FRA 00:49:04
2. Boris Pierre FRA 00:49:07
3. Ricardo Batista POR 00:49:07
4. Sergio Baxter Cabrera ESP 00:49:23
5. Alexandre Montez POR 00:49:31
6. Daniil Kondrashov RUS 00:49:34
7. Simon Henseleit GER 00:49:34
8. Elai Izhak Chaski ISR 00:49:39
9. Guillaume Hay FRA 00:49:43
10. Angel Sanchez Carreras ESP 00:49:45
Results: Junior Women
1. Beatrice Mallozzi ITA 00:54:46
2. Nora Gmür SUI 00:54:57
3. Magdalena Früh AUT 00:55:06
4. Cathia Schär SUI 00:55:16
5. Erin Wallace GBR 00:55:20
6. Gabriela Ribeiro POR 00:55:22
7. Pia Totschnig AUT 00:55:23
8. Franca Henseleit GER 00:55:24
9. Maria Tomé POR 00:55:26
10. Ida Burrows SWE 00:55:27
Results: Mixed Relay
1. Team I France FRA 01:11:40
2. Team I Germany GER 01:11:43
3. Team I Netherlands NED 01:11:54
4. Team I Belgium BEL 01:12:17
5. Team I Portugal POR 01:12:44
6. Team I Great Britain GBR 01:12:45
7. Team I Switzerland SUI 01:13:37
8. Team I Spain ESP 01:13:59
9. Team I Czech Republic CZE 01:14:04
10. Team I Hungary HUN 01:14:13
Results: Mixed Junior Relay
1. Team I Germany GER 01:14:45
2. Team I Great Britain GBR 01:14:54
3. Team I Hungary HUN 01:14:57
4. Team I Italy ITA 01:14:57
5. Team I Portugal POR 01:15:19
6. Team I Spain ESP 01:15:25
7. Team I Israel ISR 01:15:58
8. Team I Switzerland SUI 01:16:19
9. Team I Austria AUT 01:17:35
10. Team I Sweden SWE 01:18:01