KEY POINTS:
Australian triathlete Emma Moffat may have booked a spot at the Beijing Olympic Games, winning the World Cup race at New Plymouth yesterday, while Spaniard Javier Gomez laid down the men's Games standard with a dominant victory.
Beijing-bound Kris Gemmell was the best-performed New Zealander in the home leg of the World Cup circuit, finishing fourth in the men's race, just under a minute behind Gomez.
There was disappointment when Taranaki's Shane Reed failed to take the start line because of a back injury. The man he beat for the final New Zealand Olympic berth, Terence Bozzone, led after the cycle leg but faded in the run to finish 24th.
New Zealand Olympic prospect and 2005 New Plymouth winner Bevan Docherty pulled out after the swim leg, complaining of fatigue.
New Zealand had three women in the top 10 but all were more than a minute behind Moffatt.
Leading them was Nicky Samuels, left, in seventh, putting behind her last week's disappointment at missing out on Olympic selection. One place back was Samantha Warriner while 10th place went to another who will race at Beijing, Andrea Hewitt.
It was a brave display from Samuels, who led the field off the bike and held off Warriner, who said she was disappointed with her run.
New Plymouth was the second of three Olympic trials for Australia and Moffat is not attending the third in Ishigaki so had to perform today.
She comfortably ran clear of under-23 world champion Lisa Norden of Sweden and Australian Felicity Abram.
"I guess I can go in with a little bit of confidence now with a little bit less pressure," said the Australian after her second World Cup win.
It was a 15th consecutive World Cup podium and ninth win for world No 1 Gomez. His 29min 37sec in the 10km run was nearly 1min quicker than the rest of the 60-strong field.
"Yeah, I was feeling so good on the run," he said. "It wasn't easy. We have to work hard and break away with 12 or 13 guys and we start to run with 1 minute back so I have to run fast from the start."
Left in his wake were world No 2 Brad Kahledfelt of Australia, experienced Briton Andrew Johns and Gemmell, who ran close to 30min and was fulsome in his praise of Olympic favourite Gomez.
"The guy can just run, it's unbelievable, I spoke about it before the race that some athletes can somehow be so consistent and yet still look to peak in Beijing," Gemmell said. "I'm just not one of those but there's no way I thought I was going to run that fast today so I'm way ahead of schedule.
"You just saw the benchmark of triathlon now, you know. It's unbelievable."
- NZPA
