It took the Yorkshireman to the top of the overall rankings and, with only the leg in Yokohama and the Grand Final in Auckland to come, puts him in a great position to claim the overall world title.

In a race lacking his brother Alistair, the Olympic champion, Brownlee beat Spain's Javier Gómez and France's Vincent Luis in an event held over the sprint distance of a 750 metres swim, 20 kilometres bike ride and 5km run. 

"I was confident on this distance, I know I do quite well at the sprint, it wasn't that long ago I was a junior," said Brownlee, who covered the distance in 54min 24sec.

That put him seven seconds ahead of Gómez, the Olympic silver medallist.

"I wasn't sure how I was going to feel as I usually like going into races really prepared, so usually when I go into a race I've been thinking about it for months before but this one I didn't, so I wasn't sure how I was going to feel," said Brownlee.

"The swim was hard and rough and the bike, there was no easy part the whole way round was tough.

"Then on the run, Javier is normally in the front pack but he had a bit of a mucky start, and it was a bit of a rough swim, and then I'm not used to being chased by Javier, he normally starts next to me and it's hard work getting chased from behind.

"I knew with about a kilometre left that I had him as I had a little bit left, I thought I could outsprint him up the hill, although I wasn't really sure."

Sweden's Lisa Nordén thrilled the crowd in Stockholm with victory in the ITU World Series event

The women's race was won by Sweden's Lisa Nordén, who gave the crowd what they were hoping for, a win on home soil as she claimed her third ITU World Series win in a dominant all around performance.

Nordén beat the Netherlands' Maaike Caelers and Chile's Bárbara Riveros Díaz, just two-and-a-half weeks after her incredible sprint for silver at the London 2012 Olympic Games. 

Nordén was so convinced that she should have at least shared the gold medal with Switzerland's Nicola Spirig after a photo-finish that she appealed unsuccessfully to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).  

"If you have kind of a dream scenario how could my life possibly turn out as it's best, this would have been it and I'm in it which is incredible," said Nordén, who won in 60:36, nine seconds ahead of Caelers.

"Going out on the second lap knowing I had a gap, I knew all I had to do was keep running and I felt I had the strength, I had the legs and I had the crowd for it.

"So, incredible."

Further down the field, Australia's Erin Densham's fifth place was enough for her to take over the lead in the overall ITU World Series rankings, moving ahead of New Zealand's Andrea Hewitt.

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