JONNY Brownlee recovered from heat stroke to win silver in the ITU World Triathlon Series event in Cape Town.
The Bramhope athlete was Britain's big hope in the men's race as his brother Alistair, the Olympic champion, was absent because of illness.
But Spanish rival Fernando Alarza ran the "best race of my life" to beat Brownlee by five seconds and take his first Series gold in a time of 54min 12sec.
"The last two weeks I've felt terrible since Gold Coast," said Brownlee, who was overtaken by Alarza in the closing stages in Australia two weeks previously when he weaved down the finishing straight suffering with heat stroke.
"I wasn't even sure if I was going to start, I felt so bad. Second is not a victory but from where I was two weeks ago, I feel it's a big improvement."
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