A Spanish triathlete who stopped at the finish line to let his competitor take the bronze has been praised for his sportsmanship.

Diego Méntrida was trailing British athlete James Teagle at the final stretch of the 2020 Santander Triathlon in Barcelona, Spain.

But Teagle mistook the direction of the course, allowing Méntrida to overtake him just metres from the finish line.

Video shows Teagle failing to turn a corner and running into a fence outlining the spectators' area less than 100 metres from the end of the race.

He threw his hands out in exasperation as Méntrida overtook him.

But Méntrida looked back as he was running and noticed Teagle's mistake.

He stopped just before the finish line and the two men shook hands as he let Teagle pass him.

'He deserved it,' Méntrida later said. 

He wrote on Instagram: 'This is something my parents and my club taught me since I was a child. In my view it should be a normal thing to do.'

Teagle shared a picture of the pair shaking hands at the finish line on Sunday, writing on Instagram that he missed the finish chute and accidentally ran an extra 50 metres.