Huge congratulations to University of Leeds Alumnus Alistair Brownlee who claimed second place in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2016. 

Alistair came second behind Andy Murray with 121,665 votes, a fantastic achievement.

It’s been a brilliant year for Alistair which began with him winning the Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Series when it came to his homeland in Leeds, cheered on by thousands of fans in the city.

Alistair went on to become the first man to ever retain the Olympic men’s triathlon title, finishing ahead of brother and fellow alumnus Jonny who claimed the silver at Rio 2016.

In September Alistair made headlines again at the World Series final in Mexico when exhausted brother Jonny who was leading the race with 700m to go started to weave from side to side, after being hit with heat exhaustion. Alistair came round the corner, saw his brother and helped him run the final meters before pushing him over the line in second place. A very dramatic end to the Triathlon World Series and the ultimate show of sportsmanship from Alistair.

You can watch a video of the finish here

“It’s been a fantastic year for Alistair and we’re very proud of his achievements as an Alumnus of the University.”

Patrick Craig, Assistant Head of Sport at The University of Leeds.

Find out more about Alistair