Shannon Eckstein is on the cusp of a ninth ironman championship after claiming the fourth round of the series at Newcastle on Sunday.
Eckstein produced a dominant board paddle to claim the win after an epic final-leg battle with Matt Poole.
"I hated losing yesterday," Eckstein said. "It was a long race today but I milked some nice runners and although I took the same line as yesterday, it paid off today."
Poole, who had a disappointing start to the series, held on for second while Kendrick Louis returned to the podium in third.
Eckstein now has a convincing 15-point lead (89) over Matt Bevilacqua (74), who is four points ahead of defending champion Ali Day (70).
In the ironwoman Series, Kirsty Higgison continued a dream debut series, claiming her second victory.
She is now just three points behind series leader Jordan Mercer.
Higgison is a sporting all-rounder who previously represented Australia at both the Junior World Championships and Junior Olympics in kayaking.
"I didn't in my wildest dreams think I'd be up front in all of the races this season, I just thought I'd be struggling to re-qualify," she said.
"It's unbelievable. I've tried so hard for so long to try and crack the series.
"I think all that hard work and knockbacks really gave me the drive to try and achieve this and for it to happen in my first series is just beyond what I could imagine."
Maddy Dunn put some last minute pressure on Higgison by catching the perfect wave into the beach and chasing Higgison to the line.
The late push keeps her within four points of Mercer, who finished 10th.
Saturday's round-three winner Georgia Miller backed it up nicely to finish third, giving her 2 podium finishes in Newcastle.
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