Brownlee And Moffatt Looking Over Their Shoulders At ITU World Championship Grand Final

With just the Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Grand Final remaining following races in Tongyeong, Madrid, Washington DC, Kitzbühel, Hamburg, London and Yokohama, attention turns to Australia's Gold Coast and the $500,000 USD series bonus pool and $250,000 prize purse. Local attention is concentrated on whether home favourite and Olympic Games bronze medallist Emma Moffatt can be crowned as the world champion.

Moffatt has enjoyed a stunning season which started with second in Tongyeong behind Olympic champion Emma Snowsill and featured three world championship series victories in Washington, Kitzbühel and Hamburg, not forgetting an impressive win at the Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon Elite Cup where she pocketed a cool $200,000. However the Aussie has been suffering with an injury, plantar fasciitis, which could hold her back in the race. Her training has been limited by the injury and so she may struggle to be fit enough come race day.

Sweden's Lisa Norden is the Australian's biggest threat as the 2007 under23 world champion posted a remarkably consistent run which included three silver medals in Madrid, Hamburg and London and a historic win at the final race in Yokohama. Lying just 120 points behind Moffatt, Norden will fancy her chances of causing an upset.

There are a further five athletes who can still mathematically win the series. Andrea Hewitt, the Madrid winner, sits in third with Daniela Ryf from Switzerland fourth, Sarah Haskins from the USA in fifth. Reigning world champion, Great Britain's Helen Jenkins sits in sixth and Juri Ide from Japan is seventh.

Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Series Rankings

Following race seven of eight

On the men's side all eyes are firmly focussed on Alistair Brownlee, the 21 year old sensation from Great Britain who has stormed to four victories in Madrid, Washington DC, Kitzbühel and London. However the title is far from sewn up and with a further twelve men all in a shot of being crowned as 2009 world champion Brownlee will face an uphill struggle in Australia if the prince is to fend off the challengers to the triathlon throne.

Brownlee's closest challenger is defending champion and the only man to beat the Brit this year, at the European Championships, Javier Gomez from Spain. Having racked up some impressive performances, including bronze in Madrid when just coming back from injury, the Beijing Olympic Game fourth place finisher will be hungry to put another world title on his résumé to go with his European crown.

With just 351 points separating the top two, the would be medallists face further threats from behind with Kris Gemmell from New Zealand coming into a good run of form including bronze in London and silver in Yokohama. Germany's Maik Petzold and Steffen Justus are also in the running with Frenchman Laurent Vidal.

Hamburg winner Jarrod Shoemaker still has a shot at the title along with Commonwealth champion Brad Kahlefeldt from Australia and Olympic champion Jan Frodeno from Germany. The experienced pairing of Aussie Courtney Atkinson and Kiwi Bevan Docherty could yet cause an upset and the Russian powerhouses, Dmitry Polyansky and Alexander Brukhankov may still have a part to play as the drama unfolds.

Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Series Rankings

Following race seven of eight