Jonathan Brownlee wins 2011 Dextro ITU World Triathlon Sprint Championships in Lausanne

In a blisteringly quick men’s race, Australia’s contingent led by Kahlefeldt and Brendan Sexton were with the leaders at the transition into the run but were unable to keep pace with Great Britain’s Brownlee brothers and defending ITU World Champion Gomez.

Jonathan Brownlee turned the tables on older brother Alistair, the form triathlete of the season and winner in London two weeks ago, to outsprint Gomez and claim his second World Championship Sprint title in 52 minutes 23 seconds, with Gomez claiming the silver medal four seconds behind and Alistair a further 10 seconds back in third.

Kahlefeldt was 40 seconds behind the winner, with Sexton 19th, Aaron Royle 30th, Cameron Good 39th and Drew Box 42nd. James Seear pulled out of the race on the fourth lap of the bike leg.

The Aussies were handily placed after a fast and furious swim leg before a group of 14 riders broke away on the bike. The Down Under contingent was in a chasing pack that eventually caught the leaders on the fourth and final lap to set up a thrilling final 5km run.

At the transition the leading 40 athletes were separated by just 8 seconds, with Kahlefeldt the best of the Aussies in 11th place and he improved to seventh early in the run.

Just as he looked as if he might be able to work his way closer to the lead, Jonathon Brownlee and Gomez broke away from the pack to set up the fight for the gold medal. Gomez tried to break away with a couple of kilometres to go but Brownlee was able to comfortably cover his move and then pulled away in the last 300m.

“Brad’s effort was solid but as one of the older athletes he hasn’t got the real quickness of the younger competitors to compete as well in the sprint format,” Stephens said.

“He’s not happy with finishing 11th but he’s not too disappointed either, while Brendan looked comfortable throughout and had a solid race.”

The Australians will now turn their attention to the ITU World Teams Championship to be held later today.

Competing in mixed teams of four, each competitor will race over a super-sprint distance triathlon (275m swim, 6km bike and 1.5km run) before tagging their next teammate.

The final line-ups for Australia’s two teams will depend on how the athletes recover from yesterday’s sprint races but Stephens said he hoped all would be fit to race, with Moffatt, Jackson, Kahlefeldt and Sexton making up the Gold Team, and Abrams and Gentle being joined by Mitch Robins and Peter Kerr in the Green Team.

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