Great Britain's Alistair Brownlee became the first athlete to win a consecutive gold medal in the Olympic triathlon, and his brother Jonathan Brownlee took the silver, in hot and challenging conditions at Copacabana beach on Thursday (18 August). 

Alistair Brownlee finished the epic test of endurance with a time of 1:45:01, with brother Jonathan finishing six seconds behind. Henri Schoeman of South Africa won bronze with a 1:45:43 finish.

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The Brownlees, gold and bronze medallists from London 2012, lived up to their status as pre-race favourites. In the months leading up to Rio, the two brothers combined for a 1-2 finishes consecutive Olympic distance World Triathlon Series events in Leeds and Stockholm.

Until today, only one other triathlete had won medals in consecutive Olympic Games – New Zealand's Bevan Docherty in Athens 2004 and then Beijing 2008.

The Brownlee brothers dominated the 1.5km swim, 40km bike ride and 10km run race from start to finish. Alistair had enough of a lead at the finish to enjoy a slow walk to the line. 

"I was confident. We have trained to our limits. I knew I had a gap at the end so I stopped to enjoy it," Alistair said. "It's amazing. We wanted to get gold and silver four years ago, but this time we pulled it off.

"When Jonny crossed the line, I said to him, 'We've done it'. We've both had tough years. We push each other to the max. To see little brother come over the line 10 seconds after you is phenomenal. It's so satisfying."

Brothers and rivals

Jonathan was pleased to take the silver. He said: "We've been written off this year. We got back to our best form. I don't normally get emotional but I'm very emotional today. This was tough.

"I'm used to getting beat by Alistair but I've gone better than last time in London when I got the bronze. I've actually been training a bit better than him and if it had come down to a sprint, I could win. Maybe in four years, he'll be older, slower and greyer."

The Rio course suited the Brownlees perfectly due to the demanding nature of all three legs, which simply means that “the strongest all-round triathlete should win on the day” according to Jonny.

Swim to bike

In the opening leg, Richard Varga of Slovakia was first out of the swim, in 17 mins 18 seconds. The Brownlees exited the water in fourth and sixth positions, just six seconds behind.

The brothers led a breakaway bike group that established an 80 second lead going in to the run (Photo: Getty/Bryn Lennon)

The Rio bike course was not for the faint hearted, with two significant hills and plenty of technical turns. The brothers held the lead in a front group that steadily built a one-minute gap over the chasing pack, which included medal hopefuls Richard Murray of South Africa and Mario Mola of Spain.

Run to the finish

Henri Schoeman of South Africa and Luis Vincent of France remained close to the Brownlees on the 10km run, but even they gradually faded as the British brothers showed all round superior strength.

Ali Brownlee broke clear of his brother in the last lap of the run and built a big enough lead that he was able to walk the last 50 metres to the line, draped in a British flag handed to him by fans. Jonathan crossed six seconds later.

Reunited at the finish line, the pair collapsed on the ground in exhaustion and embraced for a moment on the ground.    

The Brownlee brothers congratulate each other at the finish (Photo: Getty Images/Bryn Lennon)

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