June 6 - Britain's Alistair Brownlee (pictured) proved that even an injury cannot slow him down, as he won on his comeback after nine months out on a very hot day at the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship in Madrid for the second year in a row.


It was Brownlee's first race since clinching the world title on the Gold Coast last September and being forced to sit out the opening two rounds of this year's Series due to a femoral stress fracture.

The 22-year-old Yorkshireman ran side by side with Australia's Courtney Atkinson for the entire run, before breaking away in the final 500 metres to take the sensational win.

"This win overshadows anything I did last year," Brownlee said.

"It was totally unexpected.

"This is by far the proudest victory

"I've ever had after what I've been through in the last couple of months."

Atkinson led going into the 10 kilometres run, the final transition, but was quickly caught by Brownlee, who then broke away in the homestraight.

The victory surprised even Brownlee.

"I really thought I was running for second the entire time," he said.

"But with 500 meters to go, I decided to give it everything I had and I was able to pull away."

Atkinson finished 10 seconds later to earn the runner-up spot in Madrid for the second year in a row.

"I'm not at all disappointed to finish in second here again," said Atkinson.

"My legs really didn't feel that great yesterday and I didn't feel great starting the run, but I was able to hang onto Brownlee until the end.

"He's clearly going to be the one to chase again this year."

Other British competitors in action were Will Clarke and Olly Freeman, finishing 12th and 13th respectively.

With his tenth-place finish, Russia's Alexander Brukhankov remains in the lead of the World Championship rankings heading into round four of the Series in Hamburg on July 17.


Related stories
March 2010: You can keep Florida and South Africa, Yorkshire is where my heart is says Brownlee
March 2010: Brownlee waits on scan to find out when he can compete again
February 2010: British world champion Brownlee suffers stress fracture
February 2010: Exclusive - Alistair Brownlee picks his biggest threat to Olympic glory - his brother
December 2009: Brownlee leads British Triathlon World Class Performance Programme