Alistair and Jonny Brownlee remain confident it will be a family affair at the Rio Olympics, despite Javier Gomez stealing the triathlon spotlight in their injury-enforced absences.

Spaniard Gomez this month won a fifth world title - making him the most successful triathlete in ITU history - but it is Alistair who holds the Olympic crown, while younger brother Jonny took bronze at London 2012.

Alistair recently underwent ankle surgery for an injury that cut his season short, while Jonny - who won two of the first three world series events - suffered a stress fracture in his left leg in June, leaving the path clear for Gomez to take top honours.

Speaking about the man who was second across the line in London three years go, Alistair told Omnisport at the Brownlee Triathlon: "Javier's been fantastically consistent over his entire career and especially over the last three years. On the other hand the Olympics isn't really about consistency; it's about performance on the one-off day and that's actually a slightly different thing.

"I haven't seen any one performance where I've gone, 'that was a really impressive performance'.

"It's actually probably Jonny who's produced the best performances I believe this year, especially in Auckland and the Gold Coast. Looking at someone who wants to go out and win the Olympics, that's for me more concerning than what Javier's done."

Jonny, who returned to action with a 12th-placed finish in Chicago earlier this month, shared similar sentiments regarding Gomez's achievements, but likewise felt his own displays held more promise when looking ahead to the 2016 Games.

"Obviously it’s quite tough for me to see [Gomez winning the world title]," he said. "Chicago is the only time he's actually beaten me this year, that's more to do with me having not been racing.

"I was in pole position at the start of the year after my early results and had a good chance to become world champion.

"At the start of the year my Gold Coast and World Cup performances were the best I've ever done, especially the Gold Coast one, as an all-round triathlon performance.

"Javier missed the swim, didn't have a great bike and then I even ran faster than him.

"But part of being world champion is staying healthy throughout the whole series and I didn't manage to do that. Hopefully I'll be able to learn from the mistakes I've made this year and have a better year next year."