It came in a  super sprint event in which a 400 metres swim was followed by 10 kilometres of cycling and a 2.5km run.

Only 30 athletes competed after three semi-final heats yesterday where competitors swum 750m, cycled 10km and ran 5km.

Hauser finished sixth in his semi-final but excelled over the shorter course.

The men's field all grouped together on the bike stage before Hauser pulled clear on the run.

He crossed the line in 26min 46sec, finishing two seconds clear of Rostislav Pevtsov of Azerbaijan, who took second place for the third successive year in Chengdu.

"I'm absolutely stoked," Hauser said.

"I knew I conserved a lot of energy yesterday in the heats and just did what I could to get to the final. 

"I knew it was always going to be a running race today, so I tried to conserve on the swim and bike and save it for the run and I managed to execute the processes right."

Another Australian in Luke Willian finished a further two seconds behind in third.

Stanford, the 2013 world champion and fourth place finisher at last year's Olympic Games in RIo de Janeiro, has enjoyed plenty of success in her career but had never won a World Cup race.

The Briton formed part of a group which opened a 200m gap on the bike leg.

She broke clear on the run to win by four seconds in 29:36.

Germany's Laura Lindemann took second place and United States' Kirsten Kasper clocked 29:42 for third.

"It is always great to start the season with a win, but I was not confident until the end, because everything was so quick," said Stanford.

"The key thing today was to have good transitions, and I'm not known for my good transitions, so I just focussed on staying calm and getting out fast.

"I knew there were a few strong runners on the field today and that it could be a sprint finish, but I was quite confident in my ability and didn't worry too much, and that helped a lot."