Nicola Spirig grabbed the silver, a result that completes her qualification for the Swiss Olympic team, while third placed New Zealander Andrea Hewitt finished a further seven seconds adrift.

Densham (pictured, in green) won by a comfortable 52-second margin on one of the toughest ITU courses with her run split-time the fastest by 43 seconds.

On a day when Australia's reigning Olympic champion, Emma Snowsill, was a late withdrawal from the race due to illness, Densham's performance threw up a tough question for the selectors – who have already pre-selected Emma Moffatt, ninth in Mooloolaba.

Liz Blatchford, who finished fourth, and Laura Bennett, seventh, put themselves into Olympic contention for the British and US teams, respectively.

Daniela Ryf's sixth place will be important in the points race for Olympic qualification, as it could hand Switzerland three women's spots on the startline in London.

Rachel Klamer's fifth place will augur well for the Netherlands, also in terms of accruing sufficient Olympic qualification points.


Densham's dominant performance can have done her Olympic selection hopes little harm, but the 2008 Beijing Olympian insisted that wasn't on her mind during the race.

"I wasn't giving them [the selectors] a message," she stressed.

"I was just running my race and doing what I know I can do.

"Whether that impresses them or not I don't know, but it's in their frame of mind now – I just did what I had to do.

"I love to run fast – it hurts but it's enjoyable."

Densham added: "My last World Cup podium was a long time ago, it's hard to remember.

"I've had so many ups and downs in the last few years, and I know this is where I can be."

The Australian exited the water in the lead before working with a group of nine women on the bike; it went into T2 with a 90-second lead over the main chasing group before blasting clear during the run.

She broke the tape at 2 hours 3 min 32 sec, punctuated by the day's only sub-35-minute run among the women.

Afterwards Densham admitted she couldn't keep the smile from her face during the event, especially in the wake of her surprise swimming performance.

"That swim was a shock for me," she said.

"I had a good start and then kind of got pushed back a bit at one of the buoys; there was a gap to the lead four and somehow I managed to bridge up, which is quite unheard of for me – just ask anyone.

"I've never been out of the water in front so that was a win for me right at the start; I think I laughed at the start because I was just so shocked."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
March 2012: Frenchman dedicates World Cup triathlon victory to Christchurch