Alistair Brownlee
Encyclopedia
Alistair Edward Brownlee (born 23 April 1988) is an English triathlete who is the reigning, and back-to-back, ETU European Triathlon champion and a two time Triathlon World Champion
having regained the title he first won in 2009 in 2011 in Beijing.
before he started a medicine degree at Girton College, at the University of Cambridge
. After just the first eight-week term, Brownlee decided to leave and instead went to the University of Leeds
, where he gained a Physiology and Sport degree in 2009. He is now studying for an MSc in Finance at Leeds Metropolitan University
.
Brownlee was introduced to triathlon at a young age by his uncle, Simon Hearnshaw, who regularly competed in the sport. As a junior, he was a successful fell
and cross country
runner
, coming second in the Junior English Cross Country Championships and winning the Yorkshire County title on several occasions.
In 2006, Brownlee left Girton College, Cambridge
where he was reading medicine, to move back to Yorkshire, focus on triathlon and study at University of Leeds. He is a member of the triathlon club based at Leeds Metropolitan University's Carnegie High Performance centre
, and is coached by Carnegie Director of Sport Malcolm Brown, and in swimming by Jack Maitland.
Brownlee has two brothers, Edward and Jonathan. His younger brother Jonathan Brownlee
is also a triathlete. He finished 2nd to Alistair at the world championships in 2011. He has won European Junior Championships and finished 2nd at the 2009 World Junior Championships.
in the triathlon event, finishing in 12th place and first British competitor. During the 2008 season, his best world cup finish was 3rd place in Madrid and he also won the under-23 world championship.
Brownlee won the 2009 ITU Triathlon World Championship – winning all five of the season's ITU World Championship Series
events in which he competed. He was victorious in Madrid, Washington D.C, Kitzbühel and London before winning the 2009 season Grand Final
, held on Australia
's Gold Coast
on 12 September and thereby became the first person ever to win the ITU world Triathlon titles for Junior Men (2006), Under 23 Men (2008) and Senior Men (2009).
During the 2010 off season, Brownlee sustained a stress fracture
of the femur
and wasn't able to return to competition until June, which made defence of his ITU title almost impossible. He did however mark his return to competitive triathlon with a convincing win in Madrid, followed a month later with the European Triathlon Union (ETU) Championships title. Collapsing with exhaustion at the London race, in late July, meant that despite also going on to win the final race of the 2010 ITU Series
, in Budapest, he lost his overall World Championship title to Javier Gómez.
In the April opening event of the 2011 ITU Championship season in Sydney, Brownlee suffered a heavy fall while in the lead which brought early disappointment and a 29th place finish. This was contrasted with outstanding success when, in the space of just twenty-one days during June 2011, Alistair Brownlee convincingly won the next two ITU series events (in Madrid and Kitzbühel) and, following a puncture whilst in the lead and having to make up more than 30 seconds on the new leaders, successfully defended his European title at the 2011 Pontevedra ETU Triathlon European Championships and shared the podium with his brother Jonathan, who took the silver medal.
Alistair went on to also win the 2011 ITU world title after winning the Grand Final in Beijing.
The following list is based upon the official ITU rankings and the ITU Athlete's Profile Page.
Unless indicated otherwise, the following events are triathlons (Olympic Distance) and refer to the Elite category.
DNF = did not finish · DNS = did not start · BG = the sponsor British Gas
could win gold.
In 2011, Brownlee took part in the French Club Championship Series Lyonnaise des Eaux
representing the club EC Sartrouville, which, thanks to the Brownlee brothers and Javier Gómez Noya
, had already won the Club Championship in 2010. At Nice (24 April 2011), Dunkirk (22 May 2011), and Paris (9 July 2011) Brownlee was the winner.
ITU Triathlon World Championships
The ITU Triathlon World Championships have been held annually since 1989, the same year as the formation of the International Triathlon Union – the world governing body of triathlon...
having regained the title he first won in 2009 in 2011 in Beijing.
Early life and education
Alistair was educated at Bradford Grammar SchoolBradford Grammar School
Bradford Grammar School is a co-educational, independent school in Frizinghall, Bradford, West Yorkshire. Headmaster, Stephen Davidson is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference . The school was founded in 1548 and granted its Charter by King Charles II in 1662...
before he started a medicine degree at Girton College, at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
. After just the first eight-week term, Brownlee decided to leave and instead went to the University of Leeds
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
, where he gained a Physiology and Sport degree in 2009. He is now studying for an MSc in Finance at Leeds Metropolitan University
Leeds Metropolitan University
Leeds Metropolitan University is a British University with three campuses. Two are situated in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England while the third is situated in Bhopal, India...
.
Brownlee was introduced to triathlon at a young age by his uncle, Simon Hearnshaw, who regularly competed in the sport. As a junior, he was a successful fell
Fell running
Fell running, also known as mountain running and hill running, is the sport of running and racing, off road, over upland country where the gradient climbed is a significant component of the difficulty...
and cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
runner
Running
Running is a means of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. It is simply defined in athletics terms as a gait in which at regular points during the running cycle both feet are off the ground...
, coming second in the Junior English Cross Country Championships and winning the Yorkshire County title on several occasions.
In 2006, Brownlee left Girton College, Cambridge
Girton College, Cambridge
Girton College is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. It was England's first residential women's college, established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon. The full college status was only received in 1948 and marked the official admittance of women to the...
where he was reading medicine, to move back to Yorkshire, focus on triathlon and study at University of Leeds. He is a member of the triathlon club based at Leeds Metropolitan University's Carnegie High Performance centre
Headingley Stadium
Headingley Stadium is a sporting complex in the Leeds suburb of Headingley in West Yorkshire, England. It is the home of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, rugby league team Leeds Rhinos and rugby union team Leeds Carnegie ....
, and is coached by Carnegie Director of Sport Malcolm Brown, and in swimming by Jack Maitland.
Brownlee has two brothers, Edward and Jonathan. His younger brother Jonathan Brownlee
Jonathan Brownlee
Jonathan Brownlee is a professional English duathlete and triathlete. Brownlee is the two time and reigning World Sprint Triathlon Champion and is the former Under 23 Trathlon World Champion...
is also a triathlete. He finished 2nd to Alistair at the world championships in 2011. He has won European Junior Championships and finished 2nd at the 2009 World Junior Championships.
Triathlon career
Brownlee represented Great Britain at the 2008 Summer OlympicsGreat Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Great Britain competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The United Kingdom was represented by the British Olympic Association , and the team of selected athletes was officially known as Team GB. Britain is one of only five NOCs to have competed in every Summer Olympic Games since 1896...
in the triathlon event, finishing in 12th place and first British competitor. During the 2008 season, his best world cup finish was 3rd place in Madrid and he also won the under-23 world championship.
Brownlee won the 2009 ITU Triathlon World Championship – winning all five of the season's ITU World Championship Series
2009 ITU Triathlon World Championships
The Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series 2009 is a series of seven World Championship Triathlon Events leading to a Grand Final being held in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia in September 2009...
events in which he competed. He was victorious in Madrid, Washington D.C, Kitzbühel and London before winning the 2009 season Grand Final
Grand Final
Grand Final is a predominantly Australian sport term used to describe a match that decides a league champion.It originated in Victoria and South Australia and has become specifically significant Australian culture...
, held on Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
's Gold Coast
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
on 12 September and thereby became the first person ever to win the ITU world Triathlon titles for Junior Men (2006), Under 23 Men (2008) and Senior Men (2009).
During the 2010 off season, Brownlee sustained a stress fracture
Stress fracture
A stress fracture is one type of incomplete fracture in bones. It is caused by "unusual or repeated stress" and also heavy continuous weight on the ankle or leg...
of the femur
Femur
The femur , or thigh bone, is the most proximal bone of the leg in tetrapod vertebrates capable of walking or jumping, such as most land mammals, birds, many reptiles such as lizards, and amphibians such as frogs. In vertebrates with four legs such as dogs and horses, the femur is found only in...
and wasn't able to return to competition until June, which made defence of his ITU title almost impossible. He did however mark his return to competitive triathlon with a convincing win in Madrid, followed a month later with the European Triathlon Union (ETU) Championships title. Collapsing with exhaustion at the London race, in late July, meant that despite also going on to win the final race of the 2010 ITU Series
2010 ITU Triathlon World Championships
The Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series 2010 was a series of six World Championship Triathlon Events leading to a Grand Final held in Budapest, Hungary in September 2010...
, in Budapest, he lost his overall World Championship title to Javier Gómez.
In the April opening event of the 2011 ITU Championship season in Sydney, Brownlee suffered a heavy fall while in the lead which brought early disappointment and a 29th place finish. This was contrasted with outstanding success when, in the space of just twenty-one days during June 2011, Alistair Brownlee convincingly won the next two ITU series events (in Madrid and Kitzbühel) and, following a puncture whilst in the lead and having to make up more than 30 seconds on the new leaders, successfully defended his European title at the 2011 Pontevedra ETU Triathlon European Championships and shared the podium with his brother Jonathan, who took the silver medal.
Alistair went on to also win the 2011 ITU world title after winning the Grand Final in Beijing.
Titles
- 7 Times Yorkshire Cross Country Champion U13 – Senior
- 7 Times Yorkshire fellrunning champion
- 2006 Junior European Duathlon Champion
- 2006 Junior World Champion
- 2007 Junior European Champion
- 2007 Junior World Vice-Champion
- 2008 U23 World Champion
- 2009 Hyde Park Triathlon Champion
- 2009 British National Elite Duathlon Champion.
- 2009 ITU World Champion
- 2010 ETU European Champion
- 2011 ETU European Champion
- 2011 ITU World Champion
ITU competitions
In the six years from 2005 to 2010, Alistair Brownlee took part in 31 ITU competitions and achieved 24 top ten positions, among which 13 gold medals, 5 silver medals, and 2 bronze medals.- 2008, won the U23 World Championship and placed 12th at the Olympic Games in Beijing.
- 2009, won the Dextro Energy World Championship Series placing first in almost all of the circuit's triathlons (i.e. Madrid, Washington DC, Kitzbühel, London, and Gold Coast).
- 2010, opened the season with the European Championship gold medal but subsequently had to put up with a stress fracture of the femur.
- 2011, won the World Championship Series triathlons in Madrid and Kitzbühel, leading the ITU World Championship ranking, and crowned himself again European Elite Champion.
The following list is based upon the official ITU rankings and the ITU Athlete's Profile Page.
Unless indicated otherwise, the following events are triathlons (Olympic Distance) and refer to the Elite category.
| Date | Competition | Place | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-07-23 | European Championships (Junior) | Alexandroupoli(s) | 19 |
| 2005-07-24 | European Championships (Junior Relay) | Alexandroupoli(s) | 6 |
| 2005-09-10 | World Championships (Junior) | Gamagori | 41 |
| 2006-06-23 | European Championships (Junior) | Autun | 3 |
| 2006-07-08 | Junior European Cup | Rijeka | 1 |
| 2006-07-29 | Duathlon World Championships (Junior) | Corner Brook | 2 |
| 2006-09-02 | World Championships (Junior) | Lausanne | 1 |
| 2006-10-07 | Duathlon European Championships | Rimini | 1 |
| 2007-05-19 | Duathlon World Championships (Junior) | Győr | 2 |
| 2007-06-16 | Duathlon European Championships (Junior) | Edinburgh | DNS |
| 2007-06-29 | European Championships (Junior) | Copenhagen | 1 |
| 2007-07-29 | BG World Cup | Salford | 20 |
| 2007-08-30 | BG World Championships (Junior) | Hamburg | 2 |
| 2007-10-07 | BG World Cup | Rhodes | 2 |
| 2008-03-30 | BG World Cup | Mooloolaba | 43 |
| 2008-04-06 | BG World Cup | New Plymouth | 49 |
| 2008-05-10 | European Championships | Lisbon | 15 |
| 2008-05-25 | BG World Cup | Madrid | 3 |
| 2008-06-05 | BG World Championships (U23) | Vancouver | 1 |
| 2008-06-22 | World Cup | Hy-Vee | 7 |
| 2008-08-18 | Olympic Games | Beijing | 12 |
| 2009-05-31 | Dextro Energy World Championship Series | Madrid | 1 |
| 2009-06-21 | Dextro Energy World Championship Series | Washington DC | 1 |
| 2009-07-02 | European Championships | Holten | 2 |
| 2009-07-11 | Dextro Energy World Championship Series | Kitzbühel | 1 |
| 2009-08-15 | Dextro Energy World Championship Series | London | 1 |
| 2009-09-09 | Dextro Energy World Championship Series, Grand Final | Gold Coast | 1 |
| 2010-06-05 | Dextro Energy World Championship Series | Madrid | 1 |
| 2010-07-03 | European Championships | Athlone | 1 |
| 2010-07-24 | Dextro Energy World Championship Series | London | 10 |
| 2010-08-14 | Dextro Energy World Championship Series | Kitzbühel | 40 |
| 2010-09-08 | Dextro Energy World Championship Series, Grand Final | Budapest | 1 |
| 2011-04-09 | Dextro Energy World Championship Series | Sydney | 29 |
| 2011-06-04 | Dextro Energy World Championship Series | Madrid | 1 |
| 2011-06-18 | Dextro Energy World Championship Series | Kitzbühel | 1 |
| 2011-06-24 | European Championships | Pontevedra | 1 |
| 2011-08-07 | Dextro Energy World Championship Series | London Triathlon | 1 |
| 2011-09-10 | Dextro Energy World Championship Grand Final | Beijing | 1 |
DNF = did not finish · DNS = did not start · BG = the sponsor British Gas
French Club Championship Series
In 2010, only the femur fracture could slow Brownlee's dominance for some time. At the opening triathlon in Dunkirk (23 May 2010), Alistair was not present, his brother Jonathan won the gold medal. At Beauvais (13 June 2010) Alistair placed 9th. At the Triathlon de Paris (18 July 2010), however, and at Tourangeaux (29 August 2010), Brownlee won the gold medals again. At the Grand Final in La Baule (Triathlon Audencia, 18 September 2010), Alistair placed 2nd, Jonathan 3rd, and their rival Javier Gómez NoyaFrancisco Javier Gómez Noya
Francisco Javier Gómez Noya is a Spanish triathlete.Born to Spanish immigrants in Basel, Switzerland, he soon returned to Spain and now lives in Ferrol, Galicia...
could win gold.
In 2011, Brownlee took part in the French Club Championship Series Lyonnaise des Eaux
Grand Prix de Triathlon
The Grand Prix de Triathlon , defines itself as the most outstanding triathlon event in France and attracts numerous international elite triathletes hired by French clubs.The Grand Prix may not be confused with the Coupe de France des Clubs, which is not a...
representing the club EC Sartrouville, which, thanks to the Brownlee brothers and Javier Gómez Noya
Francisco Javier Gómez Noya
Francisco Javier Gómez Noya is a Spanish triathlete.Born to Spanish immigrants in Basel, Switzerland, he soon returned to Spain and now lives in Ferrol, Galicia...
, had already won the Club Championship in 2010. At Nice (24 April 2011), Dunkirk (22 May 2011), and Paris (9 July 2011) Brownlee was the winner.