Jonathan Brownlee looked to have the ITU world title sewn up in Cozumel, Mexico, until exhaustion struck and he started to stagger and weave around the road with just 700m to go. Helped by his brother, Jonathan finished the race, but lost the title by just four points to Spain’s Mario Mola, who finished fifth in the race.

Olympic Champion, Alistair Brownlee, said prior to the race that he would help Jonathan in his bid to win the title. Jonathan needed to finish several places ahead of Mola given the Spaniard’s points advantage coming into the Grand Final.

The brothers finished the 1500m swim in second and third place before establishing a breakaway group of eight athletes on the bike section. Alistair did much of the work; pushing the group to a lead of 1 minute 32 seconds by the time they reached the second transition.

Jonathan set the early pace on the run alongside Henri Shoeman, the Olympic bronze medallist from South Africa and Alistair. The trio looked comfortable, dousing themselves with cold water every time it was offered in the intense heat. Jonathan broke away on the third of four laps, and the world title looked to be his.

However, with 700m to go, it was almost all over for Jonathan. He staggered into the arms of a race volunteer until Alistair took hold of him and helped him to the finish, pushing him across the line in second place behind Shoeman. Finishing fifth, Mola won the world title by just four points.

Alistair Brownlee commented: “If it happened to anyone I’d help them across the line, it’s an awful position to be in. If he conked out a k [kilometre] from the finish line and there is no medical support, it’s a dangerous position to be in.

He added: “I wish he’d get his pacing right and get to the finish line first. He could have won easily, he could have jogged that last 2k and won the race, but who am I to talk!?”

Commenting on his own race, he said: “You have to race the conditions. I’ve done what I wanted to do for the season so I wasn’t going to put it on the line today.  I was quite comfortable, thinking I’m going to get second or third. I made sure I took lots of water on, made sure I kept myself cool and I was alright.”

Mario Mola said: “First of all, that’s not the way I wanted to win the world championships. I thought, well, I’m going to be second again, but at least I will fight until the end. It’s racing, that’s triathlon and I’m very happy to win.”

The Spanish Federation lodged a protest about Jonathan having had assistance, but the ITU jury ruled against him being disqualified in accordance to the rules, which state that athletes can receive help from another athlete, Technical Official or Race Official.

Jonathan was taken to hospital for medical treatment, later thanking the medical teams for their care and Alistair for his ‘incredible loyalty’.

Not overlooked in all of the drama, Adam Bowden had a fantastic race, finishing tenth and securing ninth place in the Series overall, by far the best ever season for the 34 year old Loughborough based athlete.

This race rounded off a successful ITU World Championships for Great Britain. Ben Dijkstra won junior bronze along with Alex Yee finishing fifth and Sam Dickinson eighth. He then helped the Mixed Relay team to silver, and there were excellent results in the men's and women's U23 events as well, with Georgia Taylor Brown finishing fourth after two years of injury. Helen Jenkins was also fourth in the women's elite race.