Whitfield finishes solid eighth place in grand final on Australia's Gold Coast.
Britain's Alistair Brownlee caps off stellar season winning Grand Final and inaugural World Championship Series title.

GOLD COAST, Australia (September 12, 2009) -- Canada's Simon Whitfield put together one of his strongest races of the season, but in the end, came up short in his bid to step onto the World Championship podium for the first time of his illustrious career after finishing eighth in the men's Grand Final on Australia's Gold Coast Saturday.

Determined to take down some of the younger athletes that have been cranking up the pace to a new a level in the sport of triathlon during the post-Olympic season, the thirty-four-year-old Whitfield positioned himself for a shot at the podium after hanging with a large pack in the quick 1.5-kilometre swim and forty-kilometre bike alongside Australia's spectacular Gold Coast, nearly one hour south of Brisbane.

Matching stride-for-stride with the frontrunners for the first nine of ten kilometres on the relatively flat run course, the Victoria native could not respond to the surge in the final sprint for the podium, and finished in eighth spot with a time of one hour, forty-five minutes, thirty-one seconds (1:45:31).

"I had a great race and got handed my hat," said Whitfield, whose lone victory during the 2009 season came at the prestigious Hy-Vee Triathlon in Des Moines, which boasts one of the largest prize purses on the international triathlon calendar. "I had a great swim, positioned myself well on the bike, and was running as hard as I could. That was the fastest run a lot of us can remember."

Britain's twenty-one-year-old Alistair Brownlee, who has changed the face of triathlon this season with his fearless approach to racing, turned up the heat while breaking away from the pack with Spain's Javier Gomez in the final kilometre of the run. Brownlee was too much for the Spaniard, capturing the Grand Final title with a time of 1:44:51. Brownlee becomes the only athlete to have won World Championship titles at the junior, under-23, and elite level.

The fifth victory of the season also solidified Brownlee's name in the history books as the inaugural World Championship Series title. A creative change to the sport, the World Championship Series was introduced by the International Triathlon Union this year in an effort to make the sport more spectator friendly. The Series had the world's top triathletes racing at world-class venues in eight internationally renowned cities, culminating with the Grand Final Saturday. Points were awarded based on results at each race to determine the overall winner.

Spain's Javier Gomez was forced to settle for second spot on the podium in Australia after clocking-in at 1:44:57, while Germany's Jan Frodeno won the charge for the bronze medal after posting a time of 1:45:21.

The eighth-place finish marks the seventh top-ten result at the Grand Final for Whitfield, who has racked up two Olympic medals, a Commonwealth Games title, and twenty-two World Cup podiums throughout his career.

"Frankly, I was disappointed at the finish and made sure I watched the awards ceremony to remind myself of the work I'll need to do this winter to get back into the front of the game," said Whitfield.

Three other Canucks also suited up for the final race of the triathlon season. Victoria's twenty-eight-year-old Brent McMahon, who had a solid 2009 campaign while climbing into the top-fifteen on a regular basis, finished in eighteenth spot at 1:46:17. Edmonton's twenty-six-year-old Paul Tichelaar, who tried to break away from the pack in the bike, crossed the line in twentieth spot at 1:46:37, while twenty-four-year-old Kyle Jones, of Oakville, Ontario, who also made positive advancements against the world's best this year, finished twenty-fifth (1:46:53).

The Triathlon World Championships wrap up on Sunday with the men's and women's junior races, along with the women's elite field. The women's elite races, which will feature Canada's Kathy Tremblay, Kirsten Sweetland, and Lauren Groves, will be broadcast on CBC-TV during the following scheduled times:

Sunday, September 13 - Women's Final
12:35 a.m. EST
live on bold and cbcsports.ca, plus one-hour summary on CBC Sportsweekend on Saturday, September 26

Triathlon Canada is the governing body for triathlon in the country. Recognized as an Olympic medal sport since 2000, Triathlon Canada's mandate is to promote, foster, organize and develop the sport of triathlon, and its related disciplines, in Canada. For more information on Triathlon Canada, please visit us at www.triathloncanada.com.

Complete World Championship Series Results (1.5 km swim, 40 km bike, 10 km run): www.triathlon.org
Top-Five Men's and Canadian Results:
1. Alistair Brownlee, GBR, 1:44:51; 2. Javier Gomez, ESP, 1:44:57; 3. Jan Frodeno, GER, 1:45:21; 4. Maik Petzold, GER, 1:45:25; 5. Courtenay Atkinson, AUS, 1:45:27
Canadian Results:
8. Simon Whitfield, Victoria, 1:45:31; 18. Brent McMahon, Victoria, 1:46:17; 20. Paul Tichelaar, Edmonton, 1:46:37; 25. Kyle Jones, Oakville, Ont., 1:46:53.