Sunday, 18 August 2019:

An impressive fightback has helped Australia seal fifth in the mixed team relay in the triathlon test event in Tokyo but defending world champions France stole the show.

Australia's team of Emma Jeffcoat, Matt Hauser, Ashleigh Gentle and Ryan Fisher fought hard in steamy conditions to recover from languishing in ninth spot after the first leg on the 2020 Olympic course at Odaiba Park.

However, France showed why they were favourites for mixed relay gold when the team event makes its Olympic debut in Tokyo with a storming finish on Sunday.

Anchor Dorian Coninx surged home to steal a photo finish from Great Britain's Alex Yee while the United States claimed third.

The mixed team relay triathlon features legs of a 300m swim, 7.4 km bike ride and 2km run with teams featuring in a female-male-female-male formation.

"It was a good opportunity to do the course that's going to be set out for Tokyo 2020 next year so I definitely wanted to take that opportunity and I was pretty grateful that I was picked to do so," Gentle said.

Australia's national performance director Justin Drew said the test event was an ideal chance to refine their tactics ahead of Tokyo 2020.

"It's been positive to deal with a couple of contingency measures and other matters, and it helps us refine our focus for next year," he said.

Coninx's heroics helped France win in 1hr 26min 33sec with Australia nabbing fifth in 1:27.40 in the 22-strong field.

"It was a big responsibility and a big stress," Coninx said of his finish.

"I tried my best to save the most energy as I can and it worked so it's unbelievable; I knew he (Yee) was maybe the hardest guy to beat today."

AAP