Brownlee can snatch back title from brother

The 25-year-old from Leeds won for the third time this season and the 15th time in world series history after leading home Spain’s Javier Gomez in second and brother Jonny Brownlee in third, in what made for a carbon copy of the podium places from London 2012.

Brownlee senior now returns to Hyde Park on September 15 as the man to beat as he looks to reclaim the world title from his younger sibling and win it for a third time.

His victory in Sweden saw him climb to the top of the standings, with Jonny in second and Gomez third, with it all to play for in London.

Alistair said: “To be honest, this year I never really thought I would be in a position to win a world title. It’s been a year of absolute disasters and a bit of a slow one after last year so I couldn’t be happier.”

In another classic display of Brownlee dominance, Alistair was first out of the Baltic Sea and together with Jonny and Gomez did the bulk of the work for the majority of the 40km cycle.

But in a repeat of what he did when winning in Kitzbuhel earlier this summer, Alistair broke clear on the eighth lap and took a 20-second lead into the run, which is his strongest section.

Victory from there was inevitable, with the Yorkshireman breasting the tape in a time of one hour 43 minutes 13 seconds.

“I just did all I could to win really,” he said. “I knew my running wasn’t quite where I wanted it to be so I had to do a bit of something on the bike, but I got off the bike and thought, ‘Oh no, I’ve had it here’.

“I just kept going and I actually felt quite good on the second and third laps but the last lap of the run I was just a man dead on legs.”

America’s Gwen Jorgensen rediscovered her early-season form to win the women’s race from Great Britain’s Non Stanford and Germany’s Anne Haug. As with the men, all three have a chance to win the world title in London.