Britains Alistair wins triathlon grand final and 2009 title

Britain's Alistair Brownlee sprinted the final 500 metres of the run leg to win the ITU triathlon world championship series grand final on Saturday, taking the 2009 overall title. Brownlee, who won four of the seven world championship series events this year, needed only a top-five finish to clinch the championship. The 21-year-old finished the 1.5-kilometre swim, 40-km bike and 10-km run in an unofficial time of one hour 44 minutes 51 seconds. Nearest title rival Javier Gomez of Spain was seven seconds, with Olympic gold medallist Jan Frodeno of Germany third. Victoria's Simon Whitfield, the Olympic silver medallist, was the top Canadian in eighth place. Brent McMahon of Victoria was 18th, Paul Tichelaar of Edmonton 20th and Kyle Jones of Oakville, Ont., 25th. Tichelaar was second after the bike but couldn't match the pace of the leaders during the run.