Potter trailed France's Cassandre Beaugrand by around 32 points on the World Triathlon Championship Series rankings going into the Championship Finals, with the front two both knowing a victory in the Spanish city of Pontevedra would earn an overall victory.

The two favourites finished the 1,500 metres swim starting at the Tirantes Bridge around 15sec off the pace.

Beaugrand was able to make the lead group in the opening stages of the 40 kilometres bike route and Potter only the second pack.

However, the Briton was able to make it over within the first of eight laps, assisted by the work of compatriot Kate Waugh as well as France's Emma Lombardi and the United States' Taylor Spivey, both with chances of the title having started the day third and fourth respectively.

British duo Potter and Waugh and French pair Lombardi and Beaugrand led in the early stages of the 10km run.

Overall leader Beaugrand was first to be dropped, boosting Potter's prospects of taking the title.

Potter and Waugh looked the most comfortable and found themselves alone on the penultimate lap.

In the final lap, it was Potter who pulled clear to finish the 10km run in 33min 26sec, which was 18sec quicker than the next-fastest Waugh and won the race in 1hour 53min 19sec.

Waugh took an impressive silver in 1:53:37, and a resurgent Beaugrand took third in 1:53:50 to seal overall second, beating Lisa Tertsch of Germany in fourth by 11sec.

Rachel Klamer of The Netherlands placed fifth in 1:54:08 to seal a Paris 2024 Olympics place, pipping sixth-placed Lombardi.

Pontevedra's results mean Potter took her first world title with 4,559 points, followed by Beaugrand with 4,411 and Lombardi with 3,792.

Earlier in the day, Selina Klamt of Germany had been crowned women's under-23 world champion, triumphing in 1:57:48 to edge Maria Tomé of Portugal by 2sec in a sprint finish.

Angelica Prestia of Italy completed the podium in 1:58:25.

The World Triathlon Championship Series concluded with the Para triathlon open mixed relay, featuring four legs of a 125m swim, 3.5km bike and 780m run, with the last athlete's run extended to 910m.

The US defended their gold won in the United Arab Emirates' capital Abu Dhabi last year, with Kendall Gretsch, Kyle Coon, Grace Norman and Carson Clough dominating the race in 49:29.

France placed second in 50:08, and Brazil were third in 51:59.

Next year's World Triathlon Championship Finals is also due to be held in Spain, and is set to be staged in Málaga from October 17 to 20.