Marc Antoine Olivier was the men's winner in the United Arab Emirates, claiming gold in 1 hour 47min 39.6sec.

He was more than seven seconds quicker than British silver medallist Jack Burnell, with Italy's Simone Ruffini, the 25km world champion, coming home to collect bronze.

In the women's race, world champion Aurélie Muller's win was more impressive as her time of 1:58:05 was 16 seconds faster than second placed swimmer Poliana Okimoto of Brazil.

Another Brazilian, Ana Marcela Cunha, did enough for bronze.

The overall winners from 2015 had to settle for finishing away from the podium in Abu Dhabi, with men's champion Christian Reichert of Germany sixth.

Italy's women's defending champion Rachele Bruni, winner of the opening leg of the World Cup season in Patagones-Viedma in Argentina, was fifth in her race. 

There will now be a break before the third event of the season is due to take place on June 18 in Balatonfured in Hungary. 

This will see swimmers take to Lake Balaton - a venue which will be used if Budapest is successful in its bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics.