Jonny Brownlee put in a superb race at WTS Auckland earlier today to take his first gold of the 2015 season, visibly delighted with victory as he crossed the line ahead of defending champion Javier Gomez (ESP).
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Brownlee was always in a good position throughout the first Olympic distance race of 2015 (1,500 swim/40km bike/10km run), having been helped through the swim by Leeds-based Slovakian, Richard Varga, and Tom Bishop on the bike.
Very happy to win #AucklandWTS today. It is a honest triathlon course. Just like the Yorkshire hill’s! pic.twitter.com/0XwkMWy9B4
— Jonathan Brownlee (@jonny_brownlee) March 29, 2015
He burst out of the second transition and established an immediate lead over Gomez and Pierre Le Corre of France. Current world number one, Mario Mola (ESP) was a minute down by this stage.
Running through heavy rain in the final stages of the 10km run, Brownlee was visibly delighted with victory. He celebrated around the final corner and with the crowd in the final metres before crossing the finishing line as a clear winner.
He said: “In [the previous round in] Abu Dhabi I made many mistakes, and I’ve been beating myself up about it for the last few weeks. I’ve been training hard because I didn’t want to do that again, and I wanted to be able to show how fit I was.”
>>> Read our report on the men’s race at WTS Abu Dhabi
Brownlee now takes up the world number one ranking, which he’ll carry through to the next round on the Gold Coast in two weeks. Tom Bishop finished 13th, a good result and reward for his efforts on the bike.
Olympic Champion, Alistair Brownlee, missed this round through injury, but is hopeful of a return in time for the fourth round of the Series in Cape Town (25-26 April).
1. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) – 01:55:26
2. Javier Gomez Noya (ESP) – 01:55:41
3. Pierre Le Corre (FRA) – 01:55:52
4. Fernando Alarza (ESP) – 01:56:48
5. Ryan Bailie (AUS) – 01:56:53
6. Henri Schoeman (RSA) – 01:57:03
7. Richard Varga (SVK) – 01:57:07
8. Crisanto Grajales (MEX) – 01:57:17
9. Ben Kanute (USA) – 01:57:20
10. Tony Dodds (NZL) – 01:57:39
For the full results head here. Highlights of today’s racing at WTS Auckland will be shown on BBC 2 at 4pm this afternoon.
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