(L-R) Melanie Annaheim of Switzerland; Andrea Hewitt of New Zealand;Helen Jenkins of Great Britain;Sarah Groff of United States celebrate on the podium with champagne after the Women's Elite race during the 2011 ITU World Championship Grand Final at Shisanling Reservoir on September 11, 2011 in Beijing, China.Lintao Zhang
Helen Jenkins of Britain won the triathlon world title for a second time after a second-place finish in the final event of the season in Beijing on Sunday.
Jenkins, who only needed to make the podium to clinch the title, finished behind Andrea Hewitt of New Zealand.
It was Hewitt's best result of the year and propelled her to second in the world rankings.
Switzerland's Melanie Annaheim beat Sweden's Lisa Norden by two seconds in the home stretch to secure the bronze, capturing her first series medal.
Despite losing out to Hewitt in the final race, Jenkins was thrilled with the outcome.
"That was a really tough day, I'm so happy," Jenkins said. "I just didn't have it in the end to go past Andrea, it would have been awesome to take the win here but I'm just so pleased just to win the world champs again, amazing."
Montreal resident Kathy Tremblay was the top Canadian in 31st.
Edmonton's Paula Findlay pulled out early in the bike portion of the race. She's been battling a hip injury and will skip next week's Yokohama, Japan event to head home for a rest period.
For Hewitt, the race victory in Beijing capped off a successful season.
"Last year I was so close to getting on the podium for the world champs series, so this year coming second, it just makes up for everything," said Hewitt. "From the start of the run, I led the first (kilometre) and then as soon as she passed me I just hung on to her and I knew I had a little bit more energy when it came to the last part, so I went for it soon as I came into the stadium."