At last, the Revival of the Javier Gomez and Alistair Brownlee rivalry is upon us!

There are a myriad of storylines entering the third race of the T100 tour. Starting with the women, finally, rapid runner and recent Ironman Lanzarote winner, Anne Haug kicks off her T100 season after missing the first two races, and so does the unstoppable Taylor Knibb, who incredibly just qualified for the Olympics in the Time Trial (alongside triathlon). They will be taking on the Singapore champion and the “queen of the 100km distance”, Ashleigh Gentle; and on this brand new 100km course, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background - it is set to be a battle for the ages.

On the men’s side, Marten Van Riel is the name getting the most attention with his entrance to the tour amidst his pursuit of the Olympics. He is undefeated in middle-distance racing, boasting seemingly no weaknesses across any of the disciplines. Despite being everyone’s dark-horse pick for the win, he’s up against a strong American contingent looking to defend home soil, including in-form and fired-up Sam Long as well as 4-time winner of the original “Escape from Alcatraz” race, Ben Kanute, the fastest runner in middle-distance triathlon, Jason West, and Rudy Von Berg who is seeking redemption after a couple of races far below his capability.

However, the unmissable headline from this race is that two legends, world champions, and old foes are gearing up to battle it out across the waterfront, facing off at a distance they've only competed against each other at once before…

The Past - 17 Years Ago, the Rivalry Began

Brownlee and Gomez have been in the thick of it since before many of us were even fans of the sport. According to the World Triathlon archives (thank you World Triathlon for keeping those) these two have been duking it out since the 2007 Salford BG Triathlon World Cup, where Gomez took first place and the five-year-younger Brownlee settled for 20th. Since then, they've crossed paths countless times, with Gomez clinching five World Triathlon Titles and Brownlee securing two of his own. Despite having fewer World Titles, Brownlee managed to secure the two most coveted medals during that time, with Olympic Gold in London and Rio.

Their stats from this period are truly unbelievable. With a combined 207 starts, they took home 134 podiums and 82 wins and along the way, changed the way the sport was raced.

After both finished off the podium at the 2008 Olympic Games in which Jan Frodeno took home the gold (Brownlee 12th and Gomez 4th), both of their eyes were fiercely set on that infamous 2012 Olympics in London. It was back and forth in the WTCS in the years leading up with Brownlee taking the 2009 and 2011 titles while Gomez secured it in 2010. In the end, fueled by the home crowd's support, Brownlee produced a masterpiece, dominating the field with one of the most complete performances in triathlon history. Gomez, as good as his performance was as well, would humbly have to settle for second.

No one could have predicted at the time, however, that this would tragically be the last time we would ever see the two compete against each other at the Olympics. Gomez would have to drop out of the 2016 Olympics in Rio due to a bike crash leading into the race, while Brownlee would be unable to make the Great Britain team for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 due to a poor lead-in thanks to an ankle injury (Gomez would finish 25th in Tokyo). This has always left many to believe that the rivalry was unfinished - there was never a chance for Gomez to exact his revenge, or for Brownlee to further prove his dominance.

Until now.

The Present - A Rivalry… Against Themselves.

Both athletes have no discernible weakness in any of the disciplines. However, as you probably already know, their greatest weakness lately has been against themselves and specifically, their not-so-twenty-year-old short-course racing bodies (how about that for putting it nicely?). Since transitioning to the longer distance side of racing, neither athlete has found themselves with a consistent set of races before getting injured.

Gomez

Gomez was often seen as the more consistent of the two athletes, and rightly so, considering he often faced what must have felt like a two-against-one scenario with Alistair’s younger brother Jonny hot on his heels. Now 41, Gomez has become no stranger to middle-distance racing, transitioning his short-course consistency to longer distances much earlier on than his British counterpart.

Yet, despite his former resilience, injuries lately have often kept him sidelined, with most recently, a long stretch from January 2022 to September 2023 that robbed fans of many anticipated matchups, including one against the now-retired Jan Frodeno. In fact, his coach Dan Plews, said he had never been impressed with anyone’s numbers as much as he was with Gomez’s enduring that time.

Yet, despite this heartache, since September, his form seems to be on the rebound, claiming victories at smaller races as well as at 70.3 Mossel Bay in November where he produced the fastest run split by two and a half minutes. We learned from those races that clearly Gomez still has what it takes to perform as he once did.

Although, as his recent luck would have it, It hasn’t all been clear waters since his return. His last two races resulted in DNFs at 70.3 Tasmania and 70.3 Taupo (Thankfully, those weren’t related to an injury), and after getting a coveted contract for the T100 tour, he sadly was unable to race T100 Miami with illness and T100 Singapore due to his Mother’s passing.

Brownlee

On the other hand, Brownlee is often hailed as the premier single-day triathlete on the planet, possessing an uncanny ability to show up for just the right race in the most remarkable form. Nevertheless, Brownlee has yet to validate that claim in his recent PTO races. In 2022, Brownlee led the PTO Canadian Open for the majority of the way in Edmonton, aiming to outclass the two Norwegians who had burst onto the long-course scene uninvited. Yet, after sprinting onto the run with a healthy lead, he was struck by painful stomach cramps, forcing him to jog home to 24th place.

Then, at the PTO European Open last year, Brownlee seemed to have regained his full strength after an extended injury layoff, leading the race for much of the way until, again, it all unraveled during the run. Still, it resulted in a respectable sixth-place finish amongst the toughest competition on the planet, but it was agonizingly behind the two other Olympic gold medalists in the race, Jan Frodeno and Kristian Blummenfelt.

To make matters worse, following that race, he had to withdraw from the rest of the Championship-level races of the season due to requiring surgery on his ankle to remove a bone spur that was causing him repeated issues.

Thankfully, like Gomez, he has returned in seemingly full health, however was once again just short of the podium at the first two races of the Tour this year. He finished 5th in Miami after leading the race for the majority before succumbing to the heat, and then after Heat prepping for Singapore, his ankle once again let him down after dismounting his bike, causing him to pull out on the run due to the pain. Fortunately, from what we understand leading into this race, his ankle is doing okay and he is ready once more try and lead the rest for just that extra bit longer.

The Future - A Battle of Redemption

So then, how will they fare at T100 San Francisco? In a head-to-head showdown, who will reign supreme? The last time the two raced, coincidentally, was at the PTO Championships at Challenge Daytona. On that fast Nascar course, Brownlee withdrew injured on the run after being in pole position and Gomez finished a disappointing 11th place despite a top-five swim and run.

Apart from that race, previous middle-distance battles tilt in Brownlee’s favor, with two second-place finishes at the 2018 and 2019 70.3 World Championships compared to Gomez’s third and seventh. Brownlee also appears to be the more gifted of the two in the TT bike, never failing to be towards the very front of a long-distance race.

Yet, Gomez has been on the comeback trail for quite some time and his form is now truly a mystery. And with a coach like Plews, who is very focused on reverse engineering his athletes to perform at a competitive level, Gomez might just be stronger than a lot of people anticipate.

One other advantage for Gomez, as mentioned earlier, Alistair has always been at the front entering the run but has always lost it on the run, oftentimes seeming to maintain a pace that isn't sustainable. On the other hand, Gomez rarely ever has faltered in his run strategy and pacing - which could see him overtaking Brownlee late into this race.

When you look back and remember what these two have done, it is hard to believe anyone is betting against them. Even the likes of Kristian Blummenfelt himself is on record saying that he doesn’t believe they can win even a single race of the T100 when asked on an episode of The Triathlon Hour. Yet, the one thing we know for certain, thanks to their swim prowess, we will be seeing them feature at the front of this race. It is such a factor in San Francisco with such a strong current, cold, choppy waters, and a lack of swim buoys. The real question then for San Francisco is… how long do they stay at the front?

Well, coming into the races as the underdogs might just be the last bit of fuel that they needed to light the course on fire and remind everyone why they’re legends of the sport. Remember what happened when people doubted Jan Frodeno leading into the PTO US Open in Milwaukee?