Intro:

Britain's Jonathan Brownlee succeeded his brother Alistair as triathlon world champion on Sunday (October 21st), following a second-placed finish behind Spain's Javier Gomez in the ITU World Triathlon Series Grand Final in Auckland, New Zealand.

Script:

Britain's Jonathan Brownlee succeeded his brother, Olympic champion Alistair as triathlon world champion by finishing second in Sunday's grand finale of the Triathlon World Series in Auckland, New Zealand.

Spain's Javier Gomez out-sprinted Brownlee in a thrilling finish to win the elite men's race, covering a 1.5 kilometre swim, 40km cycle and 10km run in two hours and 29 seconds to win by two seconds.

Olympic gold medalist Alistair Brownlee won last year's world championship but did not compete this time around after having his appendix removed last month.

Jonny Brownlee needed a top three finish to guarantee the title, and was already at the head of the field when the first competitors emerged from the cold waters of Auckland's Waitemata Harbour after the 1500m swim.

He was in the chasing group when New Zealand's Kris Gemmell, who was competing in his last world series event before retirement, sought to steal a break on the field on the bike.

34-year old Gemmell opened up a lead of more than a minute as the riders tried to cope with the treacherous road conditions.

Gemmell was quickly run down by Brownlee and Gomez after the second transition and the pair ran most of the final leg shoulder to shoulder.

But Gomez, who is not known as a sprinter, saved a little energy for the finish and was able to outrun Brownlee in the final sprint.

Brownlee failed to end his season with a win, but an Olympic bronze medal and a world title is by no means the worst season in the world!

Gomez took second place behind the Olympic bronze medalist in the overall series standings.