Olympic triathlon champion believes he could run 2:15 marathon

Alistair Brownlee

Great Britain’s Alistair Brownlee wants to become the first triathlete to repeat as Olympic gold medalist and then, perhaps, take on different athletic challenges including an Ironman triathlon and a marathon … and “Strictly Come Dancing.”

“After Rio [2016] I intend to have a bash at a marathon and that might be a nice way to lead into an Ironman,” Brownlee told the Guardian before winning the World Triathlon Series event in London on Sunday.

He “reckons he could run somewhere in the 2:10-2:15 range,” in a marathon, the report stated.

“Going under 2:10 is probably a bit quick,” Brownlee, 27, said, according to the report. “I’ll be going for a nicely paced marathon on a flat course with a tailwind. That said, I might cross the line in Rio and be fourth and think flipping hell, that’s it, I’m carrying on with triathlon.”

How fast is a 2:10 marathon?

It’s seven minutes faster than the top British finisher in the 2012 Olympic marathon and would have placed fourth overall at the London Games.

A total of 26 British men in history have clocked sub-2:11, according to the London Marathon. The British record is 2:07:13, set by Steve Jones in 1985. Mo Farah, the Olympic and World 5000m and 10,000m champion, is in second place after his 2:08:21 at the 2014 London Marathon.

Brownlee would not be the first Olympic triathlon champion to venture into the Ironman, a triathlon made up of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and a 26.2-mile run. An Ironman is more than four times longer than an Olympic triathlon.

German 2008 Olympic triathlon champ Jan Frodeno finished third in the 2014 Ironman World Championship.

Brownlee also told the Telegraph he declined an invitation to compete on “Dancing on Ice,” a British reality TV show like “Dancing with the Stars,” on an ice rink instead of in a ballroom studio. But he would consider “Strictly Come Dancing,” the British equivalent of “Dancing with the Stars” that three-time Olympic gymnastics medalist Louis Smith won in 2012.

“I suppose it would be cool to do something that you could actually get good at, like Strictly because you get good at dancing,” Brownlee said, according to the Telegraph. “It’s definitely not something to do while still competing though. Maybe post-2016. But I wouldn’t do ice skating. I’d probably end up with no fingers and broken toes.”

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