Alistair Brownlee beats bro in Rio triathlon

Rio de Janeiro : Alistair Brownlee became the first triathlete to defend his Olympic title on Thursday with hisbrother Jonny taking the silver medal on Rio's Copacabana.

The British siblings finished comfortably clear of South Africa's bronze medallist Henri Schoeman.

While Alistair, 28, was repeating his success in London's Hyde Park, his two-year younger brotherwas improving on his bronze he collected at the 2012 Games.

The official result records that Alistair beat Jonny by six seconds, but it could have been a lot more if he had not taken time to soak in his moment of glory, slowing to a walk as the line approached with a broad smile on his face and looking back to watch his brother finish.

"I was confident," said Alistair. "We have trained to our limits. I knew I had a gap at the end so I stopped to enjoy it."

Fortunately there was to be no repeat of Jonny's collapse after crossing the line in London.

This time he fell to the ground and embraced Alistair after another job well done.

Rio's iconic crescent-shaped Copacabana beach was the battleground for the British brothers who have honed their triathlon skills training in their hilly home county of Yorkshire.

The Rio result maintained Alistair's bragging rights over his younger brother after adding this to his 2012 Olympic win and 2014 Commonwealth title with Jonny finishing in silver again in Glasgow.

The Leeds-based duo worked together in the race staged under a beating sun.

They started hot favourites to dominate in the absence of London silver-medallist Javier Gomez, Spain's five-time world champion absent due to injury.