Third consecutive world gold for Brownlee

ALISTAIR Brownlee has maintained his perfect World Championship Series record with his third consecutive victory of the season in Kitzbuhel.

HAT-TRICK HERO: Alistair Brownlee captures his third consecutive victory in the World Championship Series

The 21-year-old captured gold in his first outing of the season in Madrid, and followed that up with another victory in Washington last month.

Brownlee was forced to settle for silver at the European Championships earlier this month, behind Spain's 2008 champion Javier Gomez.

But the Brit got the better of his Spanish rival yet again in the World Championship Series to cement his place at the top of the overall standings.

"I can't believe I won," said Brownlee. "I felt absolutely awful in the swim and out on the bike but once I got on the run I felt great.

"It was a bit like training back in Yorkshire with the rain and cold conditions, and maybe that helped me.

"I'm not really thinking too much about leading the World Championship Series right now, I'm just looking forward to the next race and having the opportunity to compete in London in a month's time."

Brownlee finished the swim in the leading group but almost ended his chances as he lost a shoe while mounting his bike, only to salvage it and rejoin the leading pack at the last minute.

And while a leading trio made a break away in the bike section, it took Brownlee mere minutes to move into first in the 10km run - a position he refused to relinquish until he crossed the finishing line.

Gomez pushed hard all the way but could only reduce Brownlee's lead on the run to a gap of eight seconds.

Brownlee also found time to wave on younger brother Jonathon, who was 13th in what was only his second ever senior World Championship race. 

Jonathon, who won the European Junior Championships last weekend, matched the pace of the leading six athletes for the majority of the race, only falling back to 13th in the final few kilometres.

And fellow Brit Will Clarke improved on his tenth-place finish in Washington to come seventh to complete an excellent day for Great Britain.