Spain's Javier Gómez took his maiden ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships title ©Twitter

Olympic silver medallist Javier Gómez of Spain earned his first International Triathlon Union (ITU) Long Distance World Championship title in front of a home crowd in Pontevedra.

Gómez has five standard distance world titles to his name but today claimed his maiden crown in the long distance event. 

He had previously announced that he would focus on shorter distance racing this season in order to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, but made an exception for the long distance competition in his home country. 

The course originally consisted of a 3 kilometres swim in the Lerenz River, a 110km bike course and a 30km run, but the swim was shortened to 1.5km due to water temperatures. 

Gómez completed the race in 5hr 05min 39sec, comfortably beating compatriot and defending champion Pablo Dapena, who finished in 5:11:21.

Belgium's Alexandra Tondeur claimed the women's title at the ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships in Pontevedra ©World Triathlon
Belgium's Alexandra Tondeur claimed the women's title at the ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships in Pontevedra ©World Triathlon

Slovenia's Jaroslav Kovacic finished third in 5:12:02.

In the women's competition, Belgium's Alexandra Tondeur clinched victory in 5:48:01.

Spain's Judith Corachan Vaquero and Anna Noguera finished second and third with times of 5:50:06 and 5:51:33, respectively. 

Today's action concluded the ITU Multisport World Championships. 

The next edition will be in Townsville in Australia in 2021.