Mooloolaba First Place

Whangarei-born Nicky Samuels has won the Mooloolaba Triathlon ITU World Cup event beating a strong international field taking her first victory at this level. Samuels led from the start of the second-stage 4km bike leg and was never headed, finishing in 2:3:13 to cross the line 21 seconds clear of Australia’s dual world champion Emma Moffatt (2:3:34) with Chile’s Barbara Riveros Diaz (2:3:57) third. Performances in the Mooloolaba event count towards Olympic qualification. “It’s always good to have a good one at the start (of the year). Hopefully you can only get better throughout the season,” said Samuels, whose previous best in an ITU World Cup event was bronze in Kitzbuhel, Austria in 27.