The 25-year-old’s time of 53 min 39sec saw him finish one second ahead of the United States’ Matthew Mcelroy and Russia’s Vladimir Turbayevskiy, the silver and bronze medallists respectively, as well as Azerbaijan’s Rostislav Pevtsov.

Young Australian Matthew Roberts was the first to emerge from the one-lap 750 metres swim followed by Germany’s Maximillian Schwetz and the US’s William Huffman.

Abuin Ares was 11 seconds down but firmly in the race as he was all day, tucking into the 27-strong group at the front in the first of three laps on the 20 kilometres cycle.

The group held a 24-second lead over the chasers that featured Rio 2016 Olympians Rostislav Pevtsov of Azerbaijan, Igor Polyanskiy of Russia and Joao Silva of Portugal.  

As they rolled through the transition at the end of lap one, it was Japan’s Ryousuke Maeda and American pair Gregory Billington and Huffman that led the charge.

Over the next two laps, with multiple lead changes but no opportunity for a break away, the group remained intact and prepared for a flat out five-kilometre run.

It was reduced to 10, however, after the first 2.5km and as they came through transition for the last time, Belgium’s Simon De Cuyper led with American trio, Kevin McDowell, Mcelroy and Billington in pursuit.

Abuin Ares’ earlier patience paid dividends in the closing stages with the fresher legs delivering him his first World Cup win.

Mcelroy’s second-place finish earned him his second silver medal of the season having taken the runners-up spot at last month’s Salinas World Cup in Ecuador.

Turbayevskiy’s bronze medal backed up his win last weekend at the Alanya European Triathlon Union (ETU) Final Triathlon European Cup.

In the women’s race, the US’s Summer Cook clocked a time of 59:43 to claim her second World Cup victory.

It continues her impressive breakthrough season, which she started by triumphing at the World Cup race in Chinese city Chengdu in April.

This was followed up with a career-first win at the World Triathlon Series event in Canadian city Edmonton in September and a second-place finish at the Salinas World Cup, a sprint distance race like that in Tongyeong.

Japan’s Ai Ueda came second today in 59:54, while Cook’s compatriot Renee Tomlin finished third in 1:00:15.

Cook and fellow American Jessica Broderick led out of the water with Japan’s Fuka Sega right on their heels.

The swim did little to break up the front and a group of 24, including Cook, Tomlin and Ueda, merged to form the lead bunch on the first lap of the cycle with a 24-second advantage on the chasers.

Ueda and compatriot Yuko Takahashi were the first to leave T2 but just 11 seconds separated 22 women for the final five-kilometre run.

It came down to the last 2.5km with Cook proving too good for Ueda and Tomlin in the battle for the gold medal.

The World Cup in Tongyeong is the penultimate race of the 2016 season, which is due to conclude in Miyazaki in Japan next Saturday (October 29).