JONNY Brownlee made an encouraging return to winning form in the Beijing International Triathlon.

The Bramhope star beat Norway's Kristian Blummenfelt by 11 seconds in a rare highlight in a season of struggles for the 28-year-old.

Older brother Alistair, 30, who was disqualified in the World Triathlon Series Grand Final in Australia, was fourth.

Jonny, who has described this year as the worst of his career, was in third place after the swim and dropped a further place by the end of the bike phase of the race.

But he impressed over the 10km run to finish in a time of one minute 51.37 seconds.

South Africa's Henri Schoeman was third a further 12 seconds back from Blummenfelt.