Brownlee brothers win triathlon gold and silver

Team GB’s Alistair and Jonny Brownlee proved why they are the biggest names in triathlon, as they won the gold and silver respectively at the Rio 2016 Games.

Alistair protected his title in the men’s event as he picked up Britain’s 20^th gold medal of the Games, while his brother followed in silver position, improving on his bronze from London 2012.

South Africa’s Henri Schoeman was third and took bronze, 30 seconds behind Jonny, while Mario Mola of Spain – currently ranked number one in the world – finished more than a minute behind the Brownlees in eighth.

The Brownlees had a plan – go hard on the 1.5km swim, attack on the 40km bike ride, and then make the 10km run a battle between themselves. Suffice to say, this plan worked beautifully.

There was a leading pack of 15 swimmers, and that had been whittled down to just 10 over eight laps of the bike course. As the run began, there were only three figures at the front – the Brownlees and France’s Vincent Luis. The Frenchman faded away after a couple of kilometres, and then it was down to the brothers.

Ailstair sensed weakness as his brother suggested relaxing a little, and he pounced. He established a strong lead, and walked the final 40 metres to the finish, waving to the crowd and crossing the finish line only as Jonny approached. His time was 1:45.01, six seconds clear of his brother.

After the event, Alistair said: “I was pretty confident we would get first and second but I didn’t know which way round it would be. I just had the edge on Jonny but he has killed me in training and I have been going through hell. It has been so hard. I have woken up in pain every day.

“The swim wasn’t that quick but we knew the first two laps on the bike would be crucial. The last few weeks we have been training to commit and, boy, we did. As soon as we got to halfway, I knew we were going to get two medals and it was just a run for it.”

Jonny said: “I’m used to getting beaten by him, but at the start of the day the dream was to get gold and silver and that is what we have done.

“We had a plan and really committed, and when Alistair pushed on I thought it I would be risking a medal to go with him. Maybe in four years if he is older and greyer he will be that bit slower… but maybe he won’t be.”