LONDON : Double Olympic triathlon gold medallist and twice world champion Alistair Brownlee, who along with his brother Jonathan helped make Britain the sport’s dominant force at the Games, announced his retirement on Thursday at the age of 36.
Brownlee took gold in the 1,500 metre swim, 40km bike, 10km run event in London in 2012, with younger brother Jonathan taking bronze, then retained the title in Rio de Janeiro as Jonathan stepped up to silver.
He then moved up to longer distances, winning the Nice half-Ironman in 2019 and although persistent ankle injuries hampered his performance, he signed off his career with a third-place finish on Sunday in the final race of the new T100 series.
“Ultimately, it just feels really right and I’m really happy with it,” Brownlee told the Professional Triathletes Organisation.
“I have been doing it for a long time and there’s so many other things in sport I want to be able to do. I want to be able to do all kinds of endurance challenges,” he said.
“I want to stay fit and healthy and be part of sport, hopefully into my old age. And I’m definitely aware, you know, putting the miles on the clock and wearing things down. So I want to retire fit and healthy and not be forced to retire by injury and illness.”
