Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee insists he can still get better after racing to a second consecutive World Triathlon Series victory in Stockholm.
Brownlee finished ten seconds ahead of younger brother Jonathan, the second successive one-two for the siblings after the same result at the last round in Leeds.
Alistair broke away from his brother in the final kilometre after the pair had broken the rest of the pack with a hard ride and blistering pace on the run.
With less than seven weeks until the men’s race at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Alistair said he is close to top form.
“I felt good, definitely a step up from Leeds and well on my way to being fully fit,” said the 28-year-old.
“My legs weren’t sparkling and feeling really zoomy but I thought if I can tough it out and run the last kilometre hard then that was my best chance.
“I feel like overall my performances have been good, I just need to run about a minute faster, which I think I can do in the next six weeks.
“If I can move my running on that much then I’ll be at my best and that will be my best chance of winning an Olympic medal.”
The younger Brownlee finished 47 seconds ahead of his nearest rival, France’s Pierre Le Corre, and said he was close to beating his older brother.
“I am pleased with how I felt and I thought I had a good chance of beating him,” said the 26-year-old London 2012 bronze medallist.
“In the last lap I thought he was breathing hard but he was just 0.5 per cent better than me today, I’ll come back and try again.”
In the women’s race Helen Jenkins came home third in the Swedish capital, 28 seconds behind Bermuda’s Flora Duffy and eight shy of New Zealand’s Andrea Hewitt.
Duffy went it alone on the bike leg and the chasing duo failed to catch her on the run, with the Kiwi outsprinting Jenkins to take the silver medal.
The Brit was happy with her performance though and thinks she is where she needs to be, seven weeks from the Olympic race in Rio.
“I’m really happy to get on the podium today, I made life hard for myself with a terrible swim, but I felt good on the bike and the run I kind of hung in there, but I’m really happy to come away with a podium,” said the two-time individual world champion.
“I just didn’t have it on that sprint, that hill felt like a long way on the last lap.
“I think I’m where I want to be, I haven’t done too much running since Gold Coast, just to protect my body, and now we start that process.
“We have got a little countdown at home and seven weeks today we’ll be in Rio and hopefully I’ll be coming away smiling.”
Vicky Holland finished 37 seconds behind her compatriot in fourth with fellow Brit India Lee in 26th, while Jodie Stimpson and Rio-bound Non Stanford failed to finish.
In the men’s race Adam Bowden came in tenth, more than two minutes down on Brownlee.
Sportsbeat 2016