DEWSBURY’S Brownlee  brothers lived up to their  billing as the star attraction at  the World Championship  Series triathlon in Hyde Park  and sent the message to the  Olympic selectors that they  come very much as a team.

The Leeds-based siblings are the  hottest property in the sport and a  huge crowd came out to watch them  race over the Olympic course exactly  a year before the 2012 competition.

Older brother Alistair, 23,  dominated proceedings to take a  comfortable victory, following in the  footsteps of fellow Briton Helen  Jenkins on Saturday, while  21-year-old Jonny produced the  fastest 10-kilometres run to finish  third.

Podiums for both ensured they met  the Olympic qualification criteria  and, barring injury or illness, they  will almost certainly be back on the  start line in 12 months’ time.

Alistair said: “We haven’t qualified  yet. There’s (the Grand Final) in  Beijing as well, so if other people  achieve in Beijing (they could get the  spots instead), but I think it’s unlikely,  and more than anything we’ve done it  at the Olympic test event.

“We’ve shown that we’re really  strong together and it’s important we  get selected together. We’ve tried to  show to the selectors that as a pair  we’re much stronger than two  individuals.

“But it’s a year away and anything  can happen. Let’s hope we can just  arrive at the start line in good  condition.”

To an outsider, Alistair would  appear to have had the perfect race,  taking his place in a breakaway on the  bike that gave him a cushion of more  than a minute over the other fastest  runners.

Victory from there was virtually  assured but, for the Brownlees,  success is measured, and often  achieved, as a pair.
Jonny was left stuck in the main  pack not wanting to help chase down  his brother, and it took a stunning run  of 29 minutes and 35 seconds for the  21-year-old to see off world  champion Javier Gomez and book his  place on the podium.

Alistair never stopped thinking  about his brother’s prospects, and  said afterwards: “I didn’t really mean  to be in that break. It was a tough  position to be in.

“I thought if I could keep it at  around 45 seconds Jonny had a good  chance of catching (silver medallist  Alexander) Brukhankov, and I was  pretty confident Jonny would catch  the other two whatever it went out  to.

“On the last lap it went over a  minute and I stopped working completely to make sure it didn’t go  out too far. I was always making sure  Jonny had the chance to get on the  podium as well.

“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.”

It proved a difficult event for the  other British athletes, with Will  Clarke taking 14th to enhance his  claim for the third Olympic spot,  while Adam Bowden was 32nd and  Tim Don 51st.