Jonny Brownlee backs himself to beat his brother in four years’ time after one-two finish at Rio 2016 Olympics

Jonny Brownlee believes he would have flipped the brotherly one-two had the triathlon come down to a sprint finish on Copacabana Beach, and is confident of edging the fraternal battle in four years’ time.

The younger of the pair clinched silver behind Alistair’s gold to allow them to become the 12th siblings in the history of the Summer and Winter Olympics to seal a first and second in an individual event.

The older of the Brownlees broke clear with a few kilometres to go and pulled out for a comfortable lead to defend his Olympic title from London 2012 with relative ease.

His brother said: “I’m used to getting beaten by Alistair but I’ve gone better than last time in London when I got the bronze [the pair were separated by Javier Gomez who missed Rio with an injury].

“I’ve actually been training a bit better than him and, if it had come down to a sprint, I knew I could win. Maybe in four years he’ll be older, slower and greyer.

“Four years ago in London it was very different. I came into the race expecting Alistair to beat me. This time around, especially after winning some of our running sessions, I felt very confident. For the first five kilometres I felt really good, but then Alistair took off quite a bit and I began to struggle.”

In Pictures: Team GB's medal run at Rio 2016 Olympics

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It was an emotional finish across the line as the brothers – one of 36 sets of siblings competing at these Games – collapsed to the ground in an exhausted state, clasping each others’ hands and declaring: “we’ve done it”.

It was a remarkable turnaround for both. Alistair had undergone surgery on his ankle, while this time last year Jonny was still in a protective boot, having sustained a stress fracture in his left leg.

Alistair said: “I would get up in the morning and not be able to walk because my ankle was so stiff. It was like that for the last six months but that’s all part of it.”

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