Brownlee brothers on song
Alistair Brownlee made it a British double at the World Championship Series triathlon in Hyde Park with a dominant victory.
Last Updated: 08/08/11 8:19am
Alistair Brownlee made it a British double at the World Championship Series triathlon in Hyde Park with a dominant victory.
A day after Helen Jenkins' success, the 23-year-old won his fourth successive race after getting into a four-man breakaway on the bike and then running away from his rivals.
Brownlee's win ensured his qualification for the Olympic race in exactly a year's time, where the organisers will hope the weather conditions are slightly more favourable than Sunday's torrential rain.
Younger brother Jonny Brownlee produced a superb 10km run to clinch the bronze medal behind Alexander Brukhankov, who held on for silver.
Alistair, 23, said: "(Olympic qualification) was our aim. Today we both wanted to come on the podium. It's not easy getting two people in the top three so I'm very pleased. It's a successful day for both of us.
"I was fairly confident after the bike but you never know what can happen. After two laps of the run I was feeling pretty good. I had a pretty sizeable lead. I was just worried about where Jonny was going to come.''
A large swim pack was led out of the Serpentine by Olympic champion Jan Frodeno and world champion Javier Gomez but the decisive move came early on in the 40-kilometre bike stage.
Rain
New Zealander James Elvery broke away and was immediately followed by Alistair Brownlee and Russia's Brukhankov, with Spain's Ivan Rana joining later.
At first they did not gain much ground but as the rain began to fall the gap lengthened, playing decisively into the hands of the Briton, one of the fastest runners.
At the end of the bike, with the rain bucketing down, the group had a lead of a minute and 13 seconds, and it was no surprise to see Alistair Brownlee race off into the lead, from where he was never likely to be caught.
Jonny Brownlee led the chase along with Gomez and pulled away from the Spaniard in the closing stages to secure his Olympic qualification.
Jonny, 21, has come of age this season and his bronze added to silver medals in the WCS races in Sydney and Madrid and at the European Championships, the latter two behind his brother.
He said: "It was a really hard run. It was a different race. At the end of the bike I knew first and second were gone so there was one place left on the podium and there was me and Gomez running.
"I thought 'I've got to beat him, I've got to beat him'. I broke him after about two and a half laps. I'm really pleased to come third."
Meanwhile, Alistair was delighted with the amount of support he received on the course, leaving him looking forward to his return in 12 months' time.
He added: "The home support coming up the back straight was the best support I've ever had in any race so that was absolutely fantastic. Hopefully it'll be 10 times bigger next year.''