Completing an impressive turn around for a season which began with injury, Javier Gomez (ESP) picked up his second World Championship title, after finishing runner-up in the ITU Dextro Energy World Championship Series Grand Finale in Budapest on September 11.
The 27-year-old missed the first round of the series in Sydney, Australia due to a hip injury, but came back to finish 12th at the second in Seoul, Korea. From there his season improved as he won two races in Hamburg and London, and took second places in Kitzbühel and now Budapest.
A Suunto Ambassador who has trained with a Suunto t6 and now a t6c since his first world championship victory in 2008, Gomez was delighted with his title win.
"The second championship feels even better than the first," Gomez said. "I had to fight so hard for it today. I would have loved to win today's race as well, but winning the world title was the goal, so I couldn't be happier."
Alastair Brownlee (GBR) was winner on the day. The Brit ran alongside Gomez for the entire 10km run before breaking away to take the win in the final seconds in a time of 1hr 42min 26sec. Series leader, and another Suunto Ambassador, Jan Frodeno had a hard day in the wet conditions, fading to finish 41st and thereby dropping to fourth in the overall standings.
A full field of 75 men dove into Lágymányosi Bay on the banks of the Danube River to start the 1.5km swim leg. Gomez took over the lead on the second lap and he was first to exit, doing so in an amazing time of 17min 9sec, with a long line of men close behind him.
A group of over 40 riders formed on lap one of the 40km bike leg, and despite numerous breakaway attempts, and a series of crashes, the bunch stayed more or less together until the second transition.
Out of transition, Brownlee, Gomez and Frodeno flew to the front, quickly putting a gap on the rest of the field. Frodeno hung with the lead men for a few hundred metres, before falling off pace, clearly suffering from stiff limbs as he tried to fight through the pain.
Brownlee and Gomez pulled clear of the field, extending their advantage with each passing kilometre. As the top two men started the final lap of the run, their lead was over 30 seconds and it was clear that the final race of the 2010 Series would come down to a two-man showdown.
As they made the turn for the finishing stretch, Brownlee kicked into another gear, pulling clear of Gomez to claim his second WCS win of the year. Gomez crossed the line four seconds later, already aware that Frodeno was well back and that he was the new World Champion.
"Alistair started off the run super fast and I just did my best to hang with him," Gomez said. "Alistair is a great champion and when he sprinted at the end I had nothing left. I give all the credit in the world to Jan. He is an amazing athlete it I was sad to see him suffer today."
While it's been a difficult year for Brownlee, last year's world champion, he was clearly ecstatic at the over finishing the year on such a high note.
"This feels great especially after starting off the year with an injury," Brownlee said. "I felt pretty comfortable at the start of the run, but I was really suffering at the end. Javier pushed me really hard today and he's a very worthy champion."
Third over the line was Steffen Justus (GER) who jumped up to second overall. Australian Brad Kahlefeldt was third overall after finishing in Budapest in fifth.
In the women’s race, Emma Snowsill (AUS) blitzed the field to win her only WCS race of the season, crossing the line 1min 44sec ahead of Emma Moffatt (AUS) whose second place was enough to earn a successive World Championship title.
Suunto Ambassador Helen Jenkins (GBR) was seventh and finished the year fourth in the overall rankings.
Images by Delly Carr and Frank Wechsel / triathlon.org