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Britain's Jonathan Brownlee defended his Sprint World Championships crown in Lausanne, beating brother Alistair to a major title for the first time.

Alistair Brownlee was third, moving top in the rankings which decide the overall world title, with the series grand final in Beijing next month.

Britain's Helen Jenkins just missed out in the women's race, finishing fourth behind Barbara Riveros Diaz of Chile.

But she also did enough to take top spot in the world rankings.

In its second season, the sprint format takes place over half the Olympic distance, with a 750m swim, 20km cycle and 5km run.

For the first time this year, the result brings points in the World Championship Series, which also features six events over the Olympic distance, including the race in London's Hyde Park earlier this month.

Jenkins, who won in London, saw her break on the bike overhauled and she was unable to stay with the pace in a five-strong sprint finish.

She still got to take to the podium because of a complicated points system that saw her depose Riveros Diaz as series leader but is wary of the threat posed in Beijing by Canada's Paula Findley, who opted to miss this race.

"The World Series wasn't my main aim this year - it was Hyde Park - so to be number one is great," said Jenkins.

"Paula wasn't here today but I'll have to beat her in Beijing if I want to stay on top."

The series rankings are based on each athlete's best four results, plus the resul in the grand final. Jenkins' result here replaced her lacing from the series-opener in Sydney, when she crashed from her bike.

Jenkins is likely to have another chance of success on Sunday as two British teams will compete in the Team World Championships.

Spain's Javier Gomez, the reigning overall world champion, finished fourth in London but posed more of a threat to the Brownlee brothers in Switzerland.

He went head-to-head with Jonathan Brownlee, 21, until the Brit sprinted clear in the final stages.

"It was a really hard race. We got on the run and it quickly got down to me and Javier," said Jonny Brownlee, who won in 52 minutes 23 seconds.

"I've never been in a sprint finish before so I thought with about 300m to go, to just go for it."

As those two battled it out ahead, 2009 world champion Alistair Brownlee, 23, sprinted clear of a group some 20 secs behind on the road, finishing 14 secs in arrears.

"Jonny was fantastic today but I felt absolutely awful from the first stroke," he said.

"He went out hard on the run and I got seriously blocked in. I knew I didn't have the legs but kicked on in the last 1km."

Alistair Brownlee did not compete in last year's sprint event, also in Lausanne, where Jonathan finished ahead of Tim Don to lift the title.