Having claimed 11 consecutive wins on the ITU World Triathlon series circuit, Jorgensen was the clear favourite heading into the race, which was one of the first test events held by Rio 2016 in preparation for the Olympics.

Concerns over the cleanliness of the water for the 1,500 metre swim had been raised in the build-up to competition, but Jorgensen showed no ill-effects, emerging from the water to form part of a 27-woman peloton on the 40 kilometre bike ride.

Among those in the lead group were Flora Duffy, who claimed Bermuda’s only medal at the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games with bronze, as well as British pair Non Stanford and Vicky Holland.

Both Stanford and Holland would also exit the second transition of the race in the lead group, which had then been reduced to an elite selection of four athletes for the 10km run, where they were joined by the US's Sarah True and the considerable threat of Jorgensen.

It was no surprise that Jorgensen would be the first to make her move and despite the attentions of Stanford, she was eventually able to break clear to complete the course in 1 hour 58min 46sec to take gold and book her place at Rio 2016.

"I have been working towards this for a while, since the London Olympics, so I am excited to be able to come back here next year," Jorgensen said afterwards.

"The swim was tougher than I was expecting, it was a little bit rough for me and I didn’t come out where I wanted to, but thankfully I was in that front pack.

"It was a pretty big front pack, I thought it would be more split up than it was.

"It was also hot, we race early in the morning but it was still super-hot out there."

Stanford, the 2013 world champion, also took a giant stride to claiming an automatic spot for Rio 2016 after she continued her comeback from injury to take silver in 1:59:05, while her compatriot Holland earned bronze in 1:59:27.

Following their podium finishes, both Britons know that a podium finish at the ITU Grand Final in Chicago next month will secure them pre-selection for the Games.

A man who does not have to worry about earning selection for Rio 2016 anymore is Spain’s Javier Gomez after he dominated the men’s event to seal a quota place.

The Spaniard formed part of an eight-man leading group on the bike leg, which also included France’s Vincent Luis, South Africa’s Richard Murray and the reigning Olympic champion, Britain's Alistair Brownlee.

Having built a lead of more than one minute over the chasing pack by the start of the run, the winner looked destined to come from the group and Luis launched an early bid for victory after immediately attacking out of transition.

The Frenchman knew a top six finish would see him meet national qualification standards for Rio 2016 and he would manage to achieve the feat after finishing in 1:48:40.

But he was be forced to settle for second as Gomez caught, passed and then moved away to seal victory in 1:48:26.

Murray ensured that South Africa would also have a place on the start line next year as his time of 1:49:01 was good enough for bronze, while there was disappointment for Brownlee as the British athlete struggled with an ankle injury on the run and eventually finished 10th in 1:49:54.



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