Alistair Brownlee, who in Rio became the first double Olympic triathlon champion, will make his full Ironman debut as he weighs a Tokyo 2020 run.
Brownlee was announced for the June 23 Ironman Cork in Ireland. Ironman triathlons include a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and a marathon run. Olympic-distance triathlons are a .93-mile swim, 24.8-mile bike and a 6.25-mile run.
Many triathletes have signaled the end of Olympic careers when moving up to the Ironman, such as Beijing 2008 gold medalist Jan Frodeno and two-time U.S. Olympian Sarah True. But Brownlee does not seem ready to join them.
“I’d love to be [in Tokyo], but I only want to be there if I feel I can be competitive,” he said after winning the European Championship for a fourth time on Saturday, according to the Press Association.
Brownlee, 31, returns to the World Triathlon Series for an Olympic-distance triathlon in Leeds, Great Britain on Sunday, his first WTS race since being disqualified from the September 2018 Grand Final for failing to go around a swim buoy. It will be just his fourth WTS race since the Rio Olympics.
Brownlee reportedly said in August that he was “50-50" on going for Tokyo and had to decide between focusing on Olympic or Ironman distances.
He won four half Ironmans between 2017 and 2018 (sandwiched by a hip surgery), then finished second to Frodeno at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship on Sept. 2.
MORE: Katie Zaferes leads U.S. sweep of World Triathlon Series podium
OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!
.@AliBrownleetri will tread new territory and test full distance waters for the first time ever on 23 June - but IRONMAN Ireland, Cork won’t be a walk in the park. #RoadToKona pic.twitter.com/fpB8rysd9n
— IRONMAN Triathlon (@IRONMANtri) June 4, 2019