Reigning ITU World Champion Alistair Brownlee continues to recover from a femoral stress fracture, but hopes to be racing by early June. The Brit, who celebrated his 22nd birthday earlier this week, is able to run again and is now building his run fitness in preparation for the start of his 2010 season.

“I am at last doing all three sports and am progressing my running slowly,” Brownlee said. “I have also been doing a lot of rehab and gym work.”

Brownlee found out that he had a femoral stress fracture in late February. He missed the first race of the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series in Sydney, and will sit out next weekend’s event in Seoul. The Brit announced in February that he was planning to return to racing for round three of the Series in Madrid, and if his recovery continues to go according to plan, all signs indicate that Brownlee will be racing at the June 6 event.

“I hope to be training normally in about three weeks time, and then I will make a decision about racing in Madrid,” Brownlee said.

Brownlee will still have an opportunity to recapture his world title by scoring points at the remaining Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series races in Madrid, London, Kitzbühel and the Grand Final in Budapest. Additionally, Brownlee will be able to use points from two World Cup races toward his final world ranking.

With last year’s world crown, Brownlee became the first triathlete ever to win world championships in the Junior (2006), U-23 (2008) and Elite (2009) categories. Brownlee won all five Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series events in which he entered last season, including the Gold Coast Grand Final.