AP - American superstar Gwen Jorgensen is heading to next weekend's World Triathlon Series (WTS) event on the Gold Coast in imperious form.
Jorgensen, the 2014 and 2015 WTS series champion, gave her Olympics preparation an early boost as she stormed to victory in the ITU World Cup New Plymouth triathlon on Sunday.
She clocked a time of 58 minutes and 51 seconds to win by 22 seconds from New Zealand's Andrea Hewitt with American Kirsten Kaspar third.
"Next week I will start my WTS debut for 2016 in Gold Coast, but the sole focus for me is August 20th, the Rio Olympics, so all of this has just been kind of training for that," said Jorgensen.
South Africa's Richard Murray successfully defended his title in the men's race, finishing in 53 minutes and eight seconds, coming in 20 seconds ahead of Andreas Schilling of Denmark.
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Australia's small contingent failed to contend.
Rio-bound Aaron Royle clocked 53.46 to finish 13th, one place behind countryman Drew Box.
In the women's race, Emma Jeffcoat was 33rd in 1:02:13.
