Defending World Champion Javier Gomez (ESP) won silver at the triathlon Elite Sprint World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland on Saturday, August 20, behind Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) and ahead of Alistair Brownlee (GBR).
The Sprint Championships, held over a 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run, also doubled as a round of the Dextro Energy World Championship Series (WCS) which Gomez won in 2010.
The 29-year-old, who uses a Suunto t6c for training, was part of a 30-strong bunch at the end of the bike leg and soon moved to the front with the Brownlees, fellow Suunto Ambassador Alexander Brukhankov (RUS) and Swiss athlete Sven Riederer.
After 2km, Jonathan Brownlee and Gomez broke away from their rivals and with 1km remaining, Gomez attempted to surge away from Brownlee. But the Brit was too strong and countered with a rapid sprint into the finish to win for a second year running in a time of 52min 23sec. Gomez was four seconds behind.
In the overall WCS rankings, Gomez is now third behind Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee in that order. With just a handful of points separating the top three, there is now just the WCS Grand Final remaining in Beijing on September 10 at which the World Champion will be decided.
In the women’s race, Chilean Barbara Riveros Diaz came from fourth position with 1km to go to win ahead of Emma Jackson (AUS) and Andrea Hewitt (NZL) in a time of 58min 35sec. Suunto Ambassador Helen Jenkins (GBR) was close behind in fourth and retains her overall WCS lead over Riveros Diaz going into Beijing.
Jenkins was also part of the winning Great Britain team on Sunday August 21 in the Team World Championships mixed relay event. Alongside the Brownlees and Jodie Stimpson, Jenkins and Team GBR beat Switzerland and Germany in the third running of the championships in the mixed relay format.
Images by Delly Carr and Janos M. Schmidt / ITU Media