Chris McCormack recalls moment he knew Alistair Brownlee would be a star

As the CEO and co-founder of a number of successful business ventures, including Super League Triathlon, former world champion Chris McCormack has a clear vision of what drives success.

Before his business career had began, however, McCormack’s intuition picked up on a teenage British triathlete, who after glimpsing his reaction after racing the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the Australian knew would be a future champion.

That young star, Alistair Brownlee, is now considered one of the greatest triathletes of all time and in a recent interview with Super League Triathlon, McCormack highlights what made a young Brownlee stand out from the crowd.

“I had never seen a kid so hard”

Recalling the 2008 Olympic Games, which was won by triathlon great Jan Frodeno, McCormack spoke fondly of Brownlee’s toughness with interviewer Adam Leitch, noting the strength of character the Yorkshireman displayed.

Photo Credit: Delly Carr / World Triathlon

“What I liked about the Brownlees, and you guys from the UK know this, is the toughness of the people from the North.

“I remember watching Alistair Brownlee at the 2008 Olympics and I’d never heard of the kid, but I watched the Beijing Olympics that Jan Frodeno won, […], where this 19 year old kid was just running at the front, going for gold.

“He ended up blowing up after 6km, but I remember they were doing an interview on German TV and in the background I saw Alistair Brownlee with his head in his hands, visually disappointed he didn’t win the Olympics.” 

This obvious disappointment to having lost, despite the fact that nobody expected Brownlee to win, struck McCormack and was one of the main reasons that he wasn’t surprised with what Brownlee went on to do next.

“In 2009, Brownlee went on a rampage and I loved it, because Frodeno was the Olympic champion but the title doesn’t mean sh*t, you have to go there the next day and do it all again.

“However, Brownlee just ripped his legs off. I loved it and I started tuning in because I had never seen a kid so hard.” 

“He just changed the game”

At the point that Brownlee started to make his mark, McCormack remembers that the influence of coaches and tactical approaches to racing had started to grow, something that he says didn’t faze the two-time Olympic Champion in the slightest.

“By then, all the coaches had stared coming in with all the refinement and tactical bullsh*t and he just said bring your swim tactics and I’ll rip those up, bring your bike tactics and I’ll attack at the end and tear you apart, if you want to bike slow I’ll outrun you.

“He just changed the game, and then said ‘yeah I’ll just bring my younger brother with me’. He captivated me, that guy brought me back to short course racing and if someone had told me that our sport could look that good, that an athlete of that calibre could exist, because he was light years above the ability that I ever had, I would’ve said it wasn’t possible.”