Pallant captured her third world title and first since 2016 as she emerged victorious on the Santa Eulalia course.

It turned out to be a two-person race for gold as Pallant battled it out with Hungary’s Zsanett Bragmayer after they broke clear of the pack.

By the end of lap two, the gap was up to a minute and nearly two minutes by the time they reached transition for the final time.

After Bragmayer took the lead, Pallant produced a superb final 2.5-kilometre run as she overtook the Hungarian before triumphing in a time of 57min 50sec.

"I didn’t realise it had been seven years since my last World Championships," said Pallant.

"So much has changed since and this being a sprint is totally different format so I was a bit nervous and doubting my slowtwitch a little bit and transitions so definitely felt the pressure.

"I’m used to killing the legs a bit but getting the speed was important and I had to back myself.

"I wanted to break on the bike but thought it would be the second lap and not into the headwind but that was it."

Bragmayer finished 23sec behind Pallant as she claimed silver in 58:12, while Japan’s Ai Ueda earned bronze in 1:00:04.

Mola, a three-time world triathlon champion, captured the title at the Duathlon World Championships for the first time.

The Spaniard sealed victory in 51:03, seeing off the French challenge of Benjamin Choquert and Krillan Le Bihan.

Choquert bagged silver in 51:08, while Le Bihan pushed Belgium’s Arnaud Dely out of the medal positions when he claimed bronze in 51:10.

Competition is due to continue tomorrow with the duathlon mixed relay.