The American, who has only been competing in the sport for just over a year, posted a winning time of 1 hour 58min 16sec to finish ahead of Russia’s Arina Shulgina and Austria’s Lisa Perterer in second and third respectively.

Having experienced the intense heat at the season opener in Mooloolaba, Australia, Tomlin insisted she was well prepared to handle the plus-30 degree Celsius temperatures.

“I guess coming off Mooloolaba where it was hot there and having some nutrition and hydration issues and having another hot race here I said ‘I have to nail it’ and thankfully I did,” she said.

“I made sure those things were a priority, I am only a year into the sport and these are things I am still learning about coming from a four minute race into a two hour race.”

Japan’s Yuko Takahashi led out of T2 and immediately put a gap on the chasers, but the lead was short lived as the big names on the run soon took control.

Perterer, Shulgina and the US’s Summer Cook were among the first to show out, before Tomlin made her charge, taking 13 seconds out of Perterer and Shulgina on the third lap before easing clear.

“I didn’t have splits but I was gauging off the front runners and trying to stay relaxed, as cool as possible and work my way into it,” added Tomlin, who has a personal best of 4min 08.09sec for 1500 metres. 

“The run is definitely my comfort zone but I look forward to nailing the swim and the bike and put myself in a better position.”

Tomlin’s win came after the men’s event, which saw Australian Ryan Fisher cross the finish line in a time of 1:46:07 to claim his first gold medal since he won the 2013 International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Cup event on the Japanese island of Ishigaki. 

Leaving it all up to a sprint finish, Fisher was able to break away at the very end to stave off the challenge of Azerbaijan’s Rostyslav Pevtsov, who came away with the silver medal, and America's Kevin Mcdowell in third.

“I am over the moon to be honest, I wasn’t 100 per cent sure what sort of form I was in,” said Fisher, who has recently returned to action after an injury.

This was his first ITU-level race for 10 months. 

“I have only raced a couple of local races so far this year and it has been a long time since I have done an ITU  race so this is a big confidence booster to come out here for my first race of the year and race like that," he said. 

The next leg of the ITU World Cup is scheduled to take place in Huatulco, Mexico, on June 14. 


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