Brownlee ends season in style as Gomez wins world title

By Sportsbeat staff

ALISTAIR Brownlee produced a stunning sprint finish to win triathlon's World Championships Series Grand Final for the second consecutive year.

CONVINCING: He lost his world title but Alistair Brownlee was victorious again in the World Championship Series Grand Final - following up last year's Gold Coast win with another triumph in Budapest (Reuters)

But Brownlee, who missed the early season races in Seoul and Sydney, conceded his world title to Spain's Javier Gomez, who he edged into second in Budapest.

Brownlee and Gomez surged clear of the field in the final seven kilometres of the run but the British athlete kicked stronger in the final 100m, winning by four seconds in one hour, 42 minutes and 26 seconds.

German Steffen Justus finished third to move second in the overall standings while Brownlee, despite missing critical races, finished the season ranked an impressive sixth.

"It is great to come here and win, especially after starting the year off with an injury," said Brownlee, who will conclude his season at next weekend's British Triathlon Super Series finale in Wales.

Final 2010 World Rankings 1. Javier Gomez (ESP) 3789 points 2. Steffen Justus (GER) 3139 3. Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS) 3112 ----------------------------- 6. Alistair Brownlee (GBR) 2435

"In terms of training and fitness I am not the athlete I was last year, I am not in that kind of form. However, maybe I raced better in my head and tactically I had a good race.

"I was really comfortable, I felt really good when I hit the run and I was controlling the pace for the first three laps.

"Javier put some kicks in on the last lap but I stuck with him. My top-end pace is not up to scratch yet and I didn't want to push too far out. So I left it until the last 100m and then went for it."

Gomez becomes the first man to win two world titles paid tribute to Brownlee, who he backed to be his biggest rival again in 2011.

"Alistair was better than me but I am so happy with the world title - it is like a dream for me," he said.

"I tried to push the pace a couple of times on the last lap but I felt pretty tired and by the final sprint I was empty. Alistair had a great race.

"This world title feels better than the first because I had to fight so hard. I would have loved to have sealed it with a win but the overall title was the goal and I couldn't be more pleased."

Elsewhere, Britain's Stuart Hayes - who won the recent World Championship race in Austria - was 17th while Olympic champion Jan Frodeno finished a distant 41st, dropping to fourth in the overall season standings behind Australia's Brad Kahlefeldt.