The 25th edition of the biggest and most prestigious triathlon on the ITU calendar will be held at Hyde Park, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the only other time Britain has hosted the Grand Final, at Manchester in 1993.

"It's always very special to come back to an Olympic Games venue so we are thrilled to return to London for the ITU World Championship Grand Final in 2013," said Marisol Casado, ITU President and International Olympic Committee (IOC) Member.

"We are confident London will set a new standard for ITU's premier event."

In addition to crowning the 2013 ITU world champions, the event will also host World Championships in junior and under-23 categories, as well as Paratriathlon, which will make its debut in the Paralympics at Rio 2016.

And thousands of age-group triathletes from around the world will descend on London for what could be the largest age-group triathlon in ITU history.

The ITU Triathlon World Championships were first held in Avignon, France, in 1989.

In 2009, the Championships were revamped, expanding the former single-day World Championship race into a multi-city global series culminating in the ITU Triathlon World Championship Grand Final.

Athletes earn points throughout the season and those who win the overall series are crowned the ITU Triathlon world champions.

The 2011 ITU world champions will be crowned this weekend at the Grand Final in Beijing, on the 2008 Olympic Games course.

The elite men will race at 12:35pm on Saturday (September 10), while the elite women will start at 1:35pm on Sunday (September 11).

Speaking at a GE Great Britain team press conference from the holding camp of Jeju via a teleconference, Brownlee said: "It's a really important race for me and I'll go out and do the best I can."

With his brother, Jonathan, ranked number two in the world, Alistair added: "If you look purely at the world rankings then Jonny's got the second best chance of winning the title, but he's one of about five athletes who could win."

Alistair has a 120-point advantage over his younger sibling.

However, the Grand Final offers fifty per cent more points than the previous rounds of the Series, meaning there are 1,200 points available to the winner, 1,110 for second and 1,027 for third.


Reigning world champion, Javier Gómez (pictured) is currently in third place, 227 behind Alistair in the rankings.

Jonathan commented: "I'm not going to think about points and a half.

"I'm going to turn up and race as well as I can."

With a chance to claim the world title in his first senior season, Jonathan added: "It's been a shock of a year, it's gone really well.

"To get a podium in every World Championship Series race that I've done this year has been great.

"I want to beat Alistair of course, but I'm not really thinking about Gómez, there are so many great athletes out there."

Will Clarke goes to the Grand Final ranked eighth.

Having already achieved a podium finish in Hamburg, another one in Beijing would see him achieve the British Triathlon Olympic selection criteria, although places will not be confirmed until next summer.

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