London Grand Final: Elite Men Press Conference Highlights

Spain’s Mario Mola and Javier Gomez joined Great Britain’s Alistair Brownlee and Jonathan Brownlee to talk with media before racing for the chance to become the men’s 2013 ITU World Champion.

Mario Mola

On his hopes for the weekend
“I am really happy to be here. Of course I will try to do my best. We have a tough race coming this weekend, but I will try to do my best and be close to them because that means I’ll be close to the first position.”

Javier Gomez

On his long season
“It has been a pretty long season. It’s true I have raced a lot. I had problems in a couple of races in San Diego and Kitzbuehel so I was forced to do more races that I expected. It’s also true that I’m feeling pretty good in this second part of the year. I’m doing probably my best races right now like in Stockholm and De Moines a few weeks ago. I’m feeling ok, we’ll see how it goes here.”

On returning to compete in London
“It’s really exciting to be back. Last year was probably one of my best races ever. The crowd was huge, such a great event. I have great memories. I’m looking forward to racing again on this course, with this crowd and people.”

I had a big training block in August with no racing. I was a bit worried about that trip, jetlag makes you tired and all. But I recovered well, I was feeling really good this week. I had my last hard session on Tuesday, so we are pretty much in the same conditions.

Jonathan Brownlee

On what he needs to do to retain his world title
“It’s pretty simple really, to be the World Champion I’m going to have to win the races. That’s what it’s come down to and that’s great for the Series I think that it has come down to a single race. That’s what you want.”

On competing in London again after the Olympics
“It’s a strange feeling come back here. Last year it was so special and I thought it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I kept telling myself it’d be the last time I’d race here. It’s nice to be back because you got great memories of seeing all of those thousands of people out there.”

Alistair Brownlee

On never having lost a Grand Final race
“Yea, obviously and race you go to you want to try to win. It’s like any other race, it’s triathlon. It’s great to be back in London. I’ve had some great races and some bad ones too here. Hopefully it’ll be a good one this weekend.”

On competing on the Olympic course
“It’s mixed emotions for me. I think on the one hand it’s fantastic to be back in London. It’s great to be able to race on the Olympic course again and with all of the thousands of age groupers and juniors and 23s to race. That’s fantastic, that’s a brilliant legacy. But on the other hand it would have been kinda nice to draw a line under it last year and move on.”