Frenchman Montoya produced a personal best time of 15min 03sec in the five kilometre run to edge it at the line ahead of Australian Jacob Birtwhistle by just one second, with another Aussie Calvin Quirk taking the bronze medal.

Norway's Jorgen Gundersen had exited the 750 metres swim in the lead before being caught by the chasing packing as they made their way through the 20km bike leg.

Montoya and Birtwhistle were well placed as the bunched-up field made the transition to the road in a mass group.

It was the two main protagonists who began to pull away from the pack as they entered the final stages of the race to produce a thrilling climax that saw the man from France just clinch the win by the narrowest of margins to improve on his fourth place finish at last year's Championships in London.

"I had a good swim and we tried to make a move but they stayed with us," said Montoya, winner of European gold in Kitzbühel in June. 

"After that I stayed behind and waited for the run.

"What a sprint with Jacob."

An exhausted and disappointed Birtwhistle said: "I really wanted that win.

"It was a tough race.

"Full credit to Montoya.

"He made me work for it."

Montoya sprints to the line just ahead of Australian Birtwhistle to claim the junior world title ©ITU/Delly Carr




It was an equally dramatic finish in the women's race as Lindemann and Cassandre Beaugrand of France matched each other stride for stride right up to the line, with the German clinching victory in a time of 1hour 02min 35sec, three seconds ahead of her rival.

Lindemann, the bronze medallist last year, made her intentions clear right from the start as she was right on the shoulder of American Taylor Knibb at the start of the bike leg.

Britain's Sophie Coldwell attacked on the bike to open up a gap of one minute when she made the transition to the run.

But she began to be reeled in by the ominous pairing of Lindemann and Beaugrand, who were joined in the chasing pack by Audrey Merle of France.

The French duo had no answer as Lindemann made her final charge for the line though as she raced on to become world champion.

"It was a very hard race," she said.

"The swim was good for me.

"The bike with the hill was really hard.

"I know the French girls from the Europeans and they are very fast.

"It was a hard race."

The World Triathlon Grand Final weekend is due to continue in Edmonton with the elite women's, men's under-23 and Para-triathlon races.

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