Brownlee ready to revive Britain's sporting summer

By Gerard Meagher, Sportsbeat

IN sporting terms there's little doubt this has been Spain's summer but this weekend sees Britain's finest ready to bring some seasonal cheer to home shores.

HOME HOPE: Alistair Brownlee is ready to breathe life into Great Britain's sporting summer once again (Getty Images)

World triathlon champion Alistair Brownlee is performing at a superior level than all his competitors at present - as British sportsmen and women go, no-one is on a higher plinth.

The baby-faced 22-year-old won all five of the ITU World Championship Series races he entered last year - including a stunning victory at the grand finale in the Gold Coast.

Not even a femoral stress fracture could keep him down for long this season and victories on his comeback in Madrid as well as at the European Championships earlier this month have ensued.

Both of those victories have come against arch rival Javier Gomez of Spain, the world champion in 2008, who will not have taken his defeat on home soil lightly.

Before Brownlee came along, Gomez was ruling the triathlon roost - even if he could only manage fourth at the Beijing Olympics - and he will be Brownlee's main threat in Sunday's London leg of the World Championship series, the fifth of seven stops.

The gods certainly seem to be with Gomez. At the World Cup there was Spanish jubilation in Johannesburg while England were battered in Bloemfontein.

A week or two later Rafael Nadal swept aside Andy Murray and the British sporting summer was seemingly over in a hazy blur - but Brownlee is ready to put things right on Sunday.

"My victory in Madrid was great because I didn't know how I would do but that means I didn't have any expectations," said Brownlee, who romped to victory in last year's London leg in Hyde Park.

"All I was thinking of trying to do was finish second behind Javier but I managed to hold him off.

"This race in London is always going to be tough because Javier is in it and that means I'm more motivated for it and it means it will be a very hard race.

"He's probably a better swimmer than I am and were pretty even on the bike so when it comes to the run it's always going to be very fine margins separating us."