A time of 1 hour 23min 23sec saw the South Koreans finish 58 seconds ahead of the home nation, while Hong Kong were a further 34 seconds back in third.

China clocked 1:26:30 to take fourth spot with Chinese Taipei fifth in 1:27:33 and the Philippines sixth in 1:28:51.

The International Triathlon Union (ITU) is striving to have the non-Olympic discipline of mixed relay triathlon added to the Tokyo 2020 programme.

The world governing body had hoped to have the discipline included at Rio de Janeiro but was controversially denied a place by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board at a meeting in 2013.

This came after it was ruled that no further disciplines would be added for the 2016 Games, partly to prevent putting the Brazilian organisers under financial pressure.

The decision was a setback to the ITU but they are set to make a renewed attempt to have the discipline included at Tokyo 2020 following successful 2014 stagings at the Summer Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Asian Games in Incheon.

Speaking to insidethegames in July of last year, ITU President Marisol Casado - a member of the IOC - was optimistic the mixed relay would be included due to the Agenda 2020 reforms and claimed the discipline is good for the development of the sport.

The mixed relay consists of teams of four comprising two men and two women.

Each athlete completes a mini triathlon of swimming, cycling and running, before tagging their team-mate.