Keane 27rth in Grand Final

After the highs of Aileen Reid’s silver medal Bryan Keane
was motivated to put in a good showing in the Elite Men’s race which got
underway at 1:30pm on Sunday.

Keane wore number 39 on the start pontoon and stood
alongside 67 men who had battled it out all season in the World Triathlon
Series on their way to the prestigious Grand Final.

The swim got off to a fast start with swim specialist
Richard Varga leading the charge. The Brownlee brothers were tucked in behind
with Gomez in 13th place. By the end of the 1500 meters Bryan Keane
was 1:24 off the leader and in need of a quick transition. He did just that and
chased hard on the bike to make up the deficit.

Up front Alistair Brownlee was bossing the lead group of 13,
barking orders to ensure everyone did their fair share of work. Behind Keane
was on a charge moving up from the 4th chase group to the 3rd
and finally into the 2nd pack. They continued to claw back time as
the kilometres clocked off and got within 25 seconds by the end of the 40km
bike section.

Mindful of a lack of run fitness Alistair threw in some
attacks over the final kilometres of the bike but World Title hopeful Javier
Gomez was wise to the tactics and chased the breaks down.

Through the second transition Alistair looked to be
struggling and started out on the 10km run at a pedestrian pace as he limped
with a sore ankle. Younger brother Jonny and Spanish rival Gomez were having no
such difficultly and set off at sub 3 minute kilometre pace. Both athletes knew
the winner would take it all and be crowned World Champion.

Keane’s group followed into transition 25 seconds back and
he flew through transition and onto the run to cheers from the hordes of Irish
supporters. He was running well and cranked up the pace over the second half to
pick off those fading ahead of him.

The race and world champion was to be decided in the final
meters as Gomez came out from behind Jonny with 50 meters to go, piping him on
the line. Mario Mola from Spain had a great run to come through to 3rd.

Keane had a good run clocking 31:09 for the 10 kilometres to
finish 27th. The result also boosted his World Series ranking to 32nd
and will give him great confidence for the 2014 season.

Full Results Here