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Alistair Brownlee will make his full-distance debut at Ironman Ireland

The two-time Olympic gold medallist will make his Ironman distance debut in Cork, Ireland.

Confirmed yesterday by IRONMAN, Alistair Brownlee – the two-time Olympic gold medallist – will make his Ironman distance debut in Cork, Ireland.

Since the Rio 2016 Olympics, Brownlee has given the half-Ironman distance a try, all while still maintaining his speed in the short-course races. In 2017, the two-time Olympic champion won Ironman 70.3 St. George in 3:41:58. Then in 2018, Brownlee won Ironman 70.3 Dubai in 3:35:30, and followed it up with a second-place finish at the 70.3 World Championship (3:37:41) – one of the most entertaining long course races all-time.

Related: Ten things we learned from 70.3 Worlds

Alistair Brownlee on the podium at the 70.3 World Championship. Photo Courtesy: IRONMAN – Shawn Skene

Early on in 2019, Brownlee appeared to postpone his season debut due to a lingering injury (did not compete at Ironman 70.3 Dubai 2019). Over the past month, he has returned to racing with wins at the ITU World Cup in Cagliari, Italy and the ETU European Triathlon Championship in Weert, Netherlands.

Related: Alistair Brownlee wins fourth European Triathlon Championship

On June 8th, Brownlee is expected to compete at the World Triathlon Series (WTS) race in Leeds, UK. As anticipated, WTS Leeds will be a star-studded field with Javier Gomez, Mario Mola, Vincent Luis, Henri Schoeman, Richard Murray, Kristian Blummenfelt, Jacob Birtwhistle and the Brownlee brothers all on the pre-race start list.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist, Alistair Brownlee came to the North American 70.3 Pro Championship as his entry onto the Ironman scene.

As of right now, Ironman Ireland has Marino Vanhoenacker, Igor Amorelli and Brent McMahon (is expected to race Ironman Boulder on June 9th) on the start list. All three men have had success in 70.3 and full-Ironman racing, and are more than able to challenge Brownlee in his Ironman debut.