Brownlee brothers excel to qualify with ease for London 2012

After Helen Jenkins’s brilliant gold medal on Saturday, Alistair Brownlee led from the front to secure victory in front of a soggy but enthusiastic home crowd while younger brother Jonny produced a storming 10km run to win bronze.

For 2009 world champion Alistair it was a fourth successive win, while the podium places ensured both have met the British team’s Olympic qualification criteria and should be back on the start line in one year’s time.

Alistair, 23, said: “That 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.”

Olympic champion Jan Frodeno and world champion Javier Gomez led a big pack out of the 1.5km Serpentine swim before the crucial move came on the second lap of seven on the bike. New Zealand’s James Elvery jumped away and was quickly followed by Alistair, with Russia’s Alexander Brukhankov and Spaniard Ivan Rana also bridging the gap to make a group of four.

At first it did not look like it would be a decisive break but, as the rain began to fall, making life tricky for the big main group, the distance to the leaders quickly grew and by the start of the run it was more than a minute. Being arguably the fastest runner in triathlon, it was no surprise to see Alistair quickly take the lead and move away, leaving a race for the minor medals.

Brukhankov held on for silver, while Jonny led the chase alongside Gomez before pulling away from the Spaniard.

“I was always making sure Jonny had the chance to get on the podium as well,” said Alistair. “Maybe it didn’t work so well and it cost Jonny second place but we both got on the podium so we can’t be unhappy.”

The younger sibling’s bronze medal added to silvers in the WCS races in Sydney and Madrid and at the European Championships.

“It was a really hard run,” he said. “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’”.