The French quartet of Vincent Luis, Emilie Morier, Leo Bergere and Cassandre Beaugrand completed the course in 1 hour 20min 18sec to defend the crown they clinched in the German city last year.

Laura Lindemann, Valentin Wernz, Nina Eim and Justus Nieschlag took silver for Germany, four seconds behind the victorious French team.

The bronze medal was claimed by Australia's Natalie van Coevorden, Aaron Royle, Emma Jeffcoat and yesterday's individual men's race winner Jacob Birtwhistle, who finished in 1:20:43.

The race featured a 300 metres swim, a seven kilometres bike and a 1.7km run on the streets of the German city.

The decisive moment came when Beaugrand established a five-second lead over the rest of the pack during her run, which set Luis up nicely for his swim.

Luis was pegged back in the water before he broke clear on the bike along with Nieschlag as the two built up a considerable advantage over the field.

The Frenchman then surged away from his German rival on the run to give his country a third world mixed relay title.

Mixed relay triathlon is set to make its debut on the Olympic programme at Tokyo 2020.