Oosthuizen, winner of the individual event yesterday, and Van Der Merwe clocked a time of 13min 59sec to finish at the summit of the mixed relay podium in front of a delighted home crowd.

The South African duo were 34 seconds quicker than the Finnish pairing of Eevi Bengs, silver medallist in the women's individual, and Tiitus Ammala.

Sanruthai Aransiri and Khuanchai Khosinklang of Thailand came through to take the bronze medal.

UIPM President Klaus Schormann praised organisers of the third edition of the Laser-Run World Championships for a "great two days" of competition in the South African city.

"The weather was not on our side this morning, but we are pleased to have run all the competitions as planned this afternoon, and the performance of the athletes has shown we are on the right track with the Laser-Run World Championships and the Laser-Run City Tour," he said.

"I'm very happy and I say thank you to all the athletes and the coaches who have prepared them so well. 

"What is also very important is that we have athletes from different countries on the podium.

"Just as we have a mixed relay in Modern Pentathlon, we have a mixed relay in Laser-Run and this presents another argument that we can take to the International Olympic Committee and show that we are promoting team sports and gender balance.

"It's very exciting for the athletes, the spectators and I'm sure for the media too. 

"We will continue to support the mixed relay component in all of our UIPM Sports so that it's clear that mixed relay is really a strong pillar for the future of our union."