Jonathan Brownlee capped a remarkable year for his family when he claimed the world men's triathlon crown after finishing second to Spain's Javier Gomez in the world series grand final on Sunday.
Brownlee's overall victory comes after his brother Alistair's gold-medal winning performance at the London Olympics to give the Brownlee family the two major titles in the sport.
Alistair Brownlee, the defending world champion, was forced to miss races earlier this year through injury and an appendix operation meant he missed the season finale.
Jonathan Brownlee, who was third at the London Olympics, and Gomez, the silver medallist, were shoulder-to-shoulder throughout the 10-kilometre run before the Spaniard narrowly inched ahead in a sprint finish.
In windy and rainy conditions over a difficult hilly course, Gomez, who finished second in the triathlon series, timed two hours and 30 seconds, just two seconds ahead of Brownlee.
“To keep the title in the family is pretty special,” Brownlee, 22, said. “It's been a great year more than anything.”
“If at the start of the year, someone said that Alistair would be Olympic champion, and I would be Olympic bronze medallist and world champion as well, I would definitely have taken that.”
Russian Dmitry Polyanskiy finished seventh in Auckland to claim third place in the final world series standings. - Sapa-AFP