Alistair Brownlee Helps Brother Across the finish line, Loses Race

“To be honest, I was already considering that the role of Alistair was to help Jonny”, said Mola of his newly earned crown.

But instead Alistair grabbed Jonny, lifted his arm around his neck and all but carried him to the finish line.

After the 1.5km swim, the Brownlee brothers were in the leading pack that headed into the second transition one minute 39 seconds ahead. The The Brownlee Brothers will go down in history for this finish, which kept Jonny in the running to take second in the Columbia Threadneedle Rankings. The trio looked comfortable, dousing themselves with cold water every time it was offered in the intense heat.

However, with 700m to go, it was nearly all over for Jonathan.

Great Britain’s Jonathan Brownlee missed out on his second world championship title after his brother Alistair had to help him across the finish line.

In fact, a victory in Mexico would have seen Jonny, 26, clinch world title – but left him just four points off Spanish leader Mario Mola.

“I swore, literally, if it happened to anyone, I would have helped them to cross the line”, Alistair said after the race.

“If he’d conked out before the finish line and there wasn’t medical support it could have been really risky”, said the older Brownlee.

Big brother Alistair is quoted in a BBC article as saying: “I wish the flippin’ idiot had paced it right and crossed the finish line first”.

‘You have to race the conditions.

“The conditions were tough but I’ve done what I want for the season so I wasn’t putting anything on the line”.

“First of all this was not how I wanted to win the world championship”.

“When I heard Jonny isn’t feeling well, I thought “I need to fight to the end”, he said. “It’s racing, that’s triathlon and I’m very happy to win”.

The appeal was dismissed by the International Triathlon Union, citing a rule that states athletes may accept help from fellow competitors, but Jonny still got a ticking off for his pains. Thanks @AliBrownleetri, your loyalty is incredible’.

Sitting second in the standings, Jonny had come into the race with an outside chance of winning the world title. Ben Dijkstra won junior bronze along with Alex Yee finishing fifth and Sam Dickinson eighth.

Over the weekend a true sign of brotherly love was witnessed between the Brownlee brothers.

Compatriot Charlotte McShane won bronze in the women’s elite race.