Olympics Rio 2016: GB's Holland takes bronze in triathlon sprint finish against team-mate Stanford

Gwen Jorgensen of the United States took the gold in 1:47.50 with Switzerland's Nicola Spirig-Hug just behind

The two led for the last few kilometres of the 10km course, with the two GB women in the pack behind alongside Chile's Barbara Riveros and Australian Emma Moffatt.

The Brits - and best friends - then accelerated to fight it out for the bronze, with Holland the eventual victor.

Jorgensen has dominated the swim-bike-sport over the last two years, but usually wins her races by chasing down the stronger bikers during the 10km run.

On Saturday, however, she gave as good as she got on the hilly 40km bike course and broke the challenge of 34-year-old Spirig-Hug on the run to win America's first gold in the sport since it was introduced to the Games in 2000.

Jorgensen's victory, following Briton Alistair Brownlee's successful defence of the men's title, means that the sport's reputation for producing shock Olympic champions has been firmly put to bed.

And it was also a long overdue gold for the country that invented the sport after the United States had previously managed only Susan Williams's bronze in 2004 since it joined the Olympic party in 2000.

British pair Holland and Stanford did well to stay in the mix on the bike, with Stanford particularly aggressive on the hilly course in an attempt to break Jorgensen.

But they couldn't leave with the pace of the American's attack on the run. Slowly breaking clear of their other rivals for bronze, it came down to a sprint-off between the two Brits for the medals, with Holland proving too strong for her close friend.