Brownlee stayed within the lead pack throughout the swim and the cycle before making a break in the final run, shaking off Joao Silva of Portugal, who eventually took bronze, and South Africa's Richard Murray, who finished second, to win by over 20 seconds in a final time of 1 hour 47min 16sec.

By winning in San Diego, Alistair Brownlee takes the title from his brother, Jonathan Brownlee, who missed out on taking part in the event this year due to injury.

"I'm sure you think I'm lying when I said I've only done six weeks training, but I'm not lying," said Brownlee.

"I did Abu Dhabi six weeks ago and I pushed on since then, that's all I've done in terms of really meaningful work on the track.

"I think it's good to have an injury free winter.

"I enjoyed that, it was great."

Alistair Brownlee was made to work for his victory, but shook off his opponents eventually to claim the title

The head-to-head between Gomez and Brownlee was anticipated to be a closely-fought affair, but the Briton showed his class as his Spanish counterpart faded into the distance, eventually finishing well over a minute behind the Olympic champion.

"I felt pretty good, obviously Jonny [Brownlee] wasn't racing which makes a big difference and Javier Gomez wasn't on form and they are the two big competition really so I had it a bit my own way I suppose," said Brownlee.

"If Javier was on form it might have been a bit different.

"But yeah, that was fantastic I am really happy with that."

Alistair Brownlee takes 800 points with this victory on his season debut which puts him in sixth place overall in the 2013 ITU World Triathlon Series rankings, as Gomez sits in third with 1,264, behind his compatriot Mario Mola with 1,326 and Silva, who currently holds a narrow lead with 1,370 points.

Brownlee has not yet ruled out competing in Yokohama at the next World Triathlon Series event, which is due to take place on May 11 and 12 - the event which his brother Jonathan has earmarked for his return. 

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]

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