It was the first ITU World Series event win of both Densham and Justus' (pictured) careers following an eventful weekend.

In the men's contest, the field was opened up by the absence of Britain's Brownlee brothers, Alistair and Jonathan, the former who is recovering from injury and the latter who has already qualified for London 2012, while 2011 Sydney winner Javier Gómez of Spain was also absent.

Russia's Ivan Vasiliev and New Zealander James Elvery took a lead of a minute into the run after their fast bike leg, with Vasiliev managing to stay with the leaders as they were soon caught up by the chasing pack.

He was unable to keep up though in the run and the trio of Justus, South African Richard Murray and Laurent Vidal of France came into the final lap all with a chance of glory.

Vidal, already qualified for London 2012, was hopeful of becoming the first Frenchman to win an ITU Series leg, but it was to be Justus' race, as he claimed a first major ITU title with a time of 1 hour 51min 04sec.

He put the victory down to a good run.

"The swim was solid," he said.

"I am not the best swimmer, so I sat in the middle of the pack.

"In the bike I tried to stay in the top 10-15, but it was such a big group today; it's quite dangerous in the middle.

"Transition two was good for me and I had a good run out.

"Alexander [Bryukhankov of Russia] made a fast run in the front, so it was good for me because it split the pack.

"From the six kilometre mark I tried to push a bit and he dropped; so I kept running and running to make a bigger gap and make it to the finish line."


Murray (pictured left) came in second, building on his African Championships victory last month, and becoming the first competitor from Africa to win an ITU Series medal.

"I actually knew it would happen sometime, maybe not now," he said.

"I don't want to sound cocky or anything like that, but it's been coming together for quite a while.

"I've had a problem with my swimming, I've come from a running and cycling background and I just needed to get my swimming there and today I wasn't really sure how I was going to feature in the run.

"It's the first time I've run against the best in the world.

"So it's been good and I'm looking forward to San Diego."

Vidal (pictured right) claimed bronze, his first podium finish since 2009, and praised the crowd and the course afterwards.

"Obviously when I was on the run, I went all in to try to catch Steffen [Justus], I was a bit short today," he said.

"It is a good race, the crowd was amazing, the course was great.

"It is not often where you get to rack your back in between the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge."

Vasiliev's sixth place was a major boost for Russia though, as they look to secure three spots at the Olympics this summer in London, in the battle for ranking position.

Other nations in with a shout of taking three competitors to London are Canada, Australia and Portugal.

Canada were the happiest with their trio of Kyle Jones, Simon Whitfield and Brent McMahon coming ahead of Portugal's Joao Pereira, while Australia's Courtney Atkinson did not compete and Chris McCormack was their highest finisher in 34th.

In the women's race, Densham had a superb all round triathlon, coming out of the swim in the top ten, trailing leader Mariko Adachi, but the race become congested in the bike leg.

A huge group of competitors came into the run with a hope of victory, but there were soon seven who moved ahead of the rest.


Adachi, Densham (pictured centre), Britain's Helen Jenkins (left), Beijing 2008 Olympian Andrea Hewitt (right) of New Zealand, who has been in fine form recently, Spain's Ainhoa Murúa and American Laura Bennett, who was fourth in Beijing four years' ago, were the competitors left as they raced towards the finish.

It turned into a battle between Densham, Jenkins and Hewitt, with the New Zealander dropping off the pace and the Australian moving clear to claim victory in a time of 2:01:29.

It was a remarkable result and caps a superb recovery from a triathlete who had undergone heart surgery three years ago after collapsing during a swim leg of a race.

"Mooloolaba was the first step and proved what I could do," Densham said.

"There was more pressure today in knowing what I could do that and coming to do it again, I am sure there was probably a few people who thought it was a one-off, so I am just glad I have done it again and hopefully I can put some of those doubters to rest."

Second place finisher Jenkins said: "When all the bike packs came together I was a bit edgy and I was like, I just get memories of falling off again, and I just really had to hold my nerve and hold my position in the pack and make sure I wasn't in a bad position.

"Normally it takes me a few races to warm up, so to come out and get a podium performance is brilliant, I'm really happy."


For Hewitt (pictured) there was disappointment but she was philosophical afterwards: "I am really pleased, there were a lot of girls who went out hard.

"Erin was in such good form on the run, she ran so fast in Mooloolaba and I was lucky and happy to keep with her right until the last two kilometres."

It was not quite as good a race for another Australian, Emma Moffatt, the double world triathlon champion who has already qualified for London 2012, who came 13th, a place ahead of reigning Olympic champion and compatriot Emma Snowsill.

Another Australian, last year's fourth place World Series finisher Emma Jackson, could only finish 33rd.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
April 2012: Olympic places up for grabs at World Triathlon Series opener