Britain's Jodie Stimpson finished fifth in the women's race at the ITU World Triathlon Series Grand Final in Auckland on Saturday.
Stimpson was among an 11-strong group which looked set to contest a sprint finish until Germany's Anne Haug pulled clear on the final lap of the run.
Haug finished in a time of two hours 10 minutes and 48 seconds, 12 seconds ahead of American Gwen Jorgensen with Barbara Riveros Diaz of Chile in third.
Sweden's Lisa Norden was fourth to claim the overall world title, with Stimpson given the same time as the Olympic silver medallist in fifth.
Jonny Brownlee will bid to follow in the footsteps of brother Alistair and become world champion in the senior men's race on Sunday morning but Britain already has a title to celebrate after Non Stanford won the under-23 title in Auckland.
The 23-year-old Welshwoman has had an impressive season and she crowned it in perfect fashion, winning by nine seconds from Holland's Sarissa De Vries.
Stanford said: "It was the dream scenario, but never has one of my race plans gone to plan. For it to actually go right for once is absolutely unbelievable. It happened on the right day."
Lucy Hall finished eighth.
In the men's under-23 race, Tom Bishop won a bronze medal for the second consecutive year and defending champion Matt Sharp finished sixth in a race won by Australia's Aaron Royle.