Two-time Olympic triathlon champion Alistair Brownlee has announced that he is retiring from professional triathlon. The 36-year-old made the announcement on X today. It follows his earlier decision to retire from racing at Olympic distance after missing out on competing at Tokyo 2020 due to a persistent ankle injury. How to enter the 2026 London Marathon ballot Ironman Strava reveals data on the 2025 London Marathon.

Among his many accolades – including two Olympic gold medals and two world champion titles – Brownlee is known for competing against his younger brother Jonny Brownlee during his career. In 2016, the Yorkshire-born brothers memorably made headlines after Alistair helped Jonny over the finish line at the Triathlon World Series when he began to collapse. Alistair supported Jonny through the last couple of hundred metres before pushing him over the line to a second-place finish.

Paris 2024 was the first Olympic Games without a Brownlee brother since Athens 2004. They had secured five medals between them over five Games.

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In 2014, Alistair and Jonny founded the Brownlee Foundation to inspire children to get active and regularly participate in sports. In his announcement on X, Brownlee said he was approaching retirement with ‘dread and excitement’.

Reflecting on how triathlon has shaped his life, he added: ‘I have dedicated nearly half of it to being a professional athlete, fulfilling my childhood dream and achieving far more than I ever dared to imagine.’

Alistair Brownlee is the only triathlete in history to be crowned junior world champion, U23 world champion, European champion and Olympic champion.

In his prime, Brownlee was a blisteringly quick runner, as witnessed at London 2012 when he completed the 10K run in 29mins 7secs – despite walking the final 100m.

As for why he has chosen to retire now, he said on X: ‘It feels right. I am happy and content, eager for what lies ahead. I find myself smiling because it happened, rather than crying because it’s over (to paraphrase Dr. Seuss).’

The former Olympic and world champion added that he was looking forward to embracing a slightly slower pace of life – but ‘not too slow’ – and had several project ideas lined up. He also welcomed ideas from his followers and fans for challenges to take on in his next chapter.

Expressing gratitude to his team and supporters, Brownlee concluded: ‘I am deeply grateful to each and every one of you for your contributions, no matter how small you may believe they are. Your support means the world to me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.'