Japan's Ai Ueda finished second in the women's elite race, denied a second world title by Joselyn Daniely Brea Abreu ©Getty Images

The women's world number 28 Joselyn Daniely Brea Abreu delivered a fine performance to triumph at the World Triathlon Duathlon Championships in Avilés in Spain, while Nathan Guerbeur of France earned the men's title.

Brea Abreu represented Spain until last year and is in the process of changing her allegiance to Venezuela.

She was the strongest performer on both running legs of the women's elite race, leading a group of eight front-runners after the first four laps of the 2.6 kilometres route.

Spain's Noelia Juan's was quickest on the bike, which consisted of six laps of a 6.6km course, with a 1 hour 3min 54sec effort on the bike, while Brea Abreu stayed in contention as the 12th fastest athlete with 1:05:05.

For the final two laps of the running route, veteran Ai Ueda of Japan was Brea Abreu's nearest challenger, but she was again quickest with a time of 17:41 to win her maiden world title.

Brea Abreu finished the race in 2:00:19, with the 2013 world champion Ueda 11sec back.

The world number two Marion Legrand of France finished a further 11sec after Ueda to secure the bronze medal.

Austria's Sandrina Illes, the world number one, did not finish the race, while Garance Blaut of France could not repeat her podium finish in Pontevedra two years ago as the world number six clocked 2:01 to finish sixth.

The men's elite race was won by the world number 214 Guerbeur, securing a stunning victory for his first gold medal at the Championship by edging past his compatriot Maxime Hueber-Moosbrugger.

Both athletes were neck-and-neck with a first run of 31:48, although seven other competitors also recorded times under 32 minutes.

A bike leg of 56:42 from Guerbeur was the sixth quickest from the field, and Belgium's Vincent Bierinckx stayed hot on his tails, while Hueber-Moosbrugger dropped off slightly as he completed the six laps in 57:00.

The world number 11 recorded a time of 16:08 on his second run, but it was not enough to catch Guerbeur as he clocked 16:15 on the third element of the race.

The gold medallist finished in 1:45:28, with Hueber-Moosbrugger six seconds behind.

World number four Arnaud Dely of Belgium added to his bronze medal at the European Championships in July with another third-placed finish in Avilés, clocking 1:45:53.

Dely's compatriot Angelo Vandecasteele, ranked second in the world, came fifth with 1:46;24, while the Spanish two-time world champion Emilio Martin was eighth with 1:47:49.