Three-time International Triathlon Union world champion Emma Snowsill erased an off-form 2007 season with an emphatic win at the Mooloolaba BG Triathlon World Cup March 30, slamming the door on Vanessa Fernandes' try for a record 20th World Cup victory. Meanwhile, two-time world No. I Javier Gomez of Spain bagged his 14th straight World Cup podium finish with a definitive 24-second win over runner-up Brad Kahlefeldt of Australia.

In a race that mattered greatly to Australian and New Zealand athletes vying for 2008 Olympic slots, the women's contest came down to a 24-person bike breakaway and a drag race on the run. Snowsill and Fernandes ran elbow to elbow to the halfway point of the final leg before the resilient Aussie turned on the jets, posting a race-best 33:19 run and beating Fernandes to the line by 38 seconds in 2:00:44.

"I'm so happy, I feel myself again," Snow-sill told ITU media at the finish line. "The problems have dropped away. I feel like I'm back where I'm supposed to be." Snowy's win mirrored her 2007 Mooloolaba triumph, which snapped Fernandes' then-streak of 12 straight World Cups, leaving the Portugeuse sensation deadlocked with Emma Carney for most consecutive World Cup victories.

Sweden's Lisa Norden, last year's Under-23 world champion, ran a third-best 34:46 to capture her first World Cup podium, 45 seconds behind Fernandes and 30 seconds ahead of fourth-place Laura Bennett, the first woman named to the U.S. Olympic team.

Although Australian national coach Bill Davoren won't choose his Olympic squad until after one more key World Cup, the day's seventh-place finisher, newcomer Alee Sharp, made a strong bid to join already-qualified Snowsill in Beijing by beating fellow countrywomen Emma Moffatt (ninth), Felicity Abram (12th) and Erin Densham (21st). Top Aussie contender Annabel Luxford, the 2005 world No. 1, was injured and DNF'd at Mooloolaba. Among the Kiwis, Andrea Hewitt's 14th place topped Nicky Samuels' 20th, making her the favorite to join Debbie Tanner (22nd) and Samantha Warriner (DNS) on New Zealand's team.

In the men's race, Gomez overcame a poor 24th-place swim and early bike crash to bridge up to an 11-man lead posse on the first lap of the run. Gomez and Kahlefeldt then broke from 2006 ITU world champion Tim Don, 2004 world champ Bevan Docherty of New Zealand and 2007 Life Time Fitness king, Aussie Greg Bennett, at the halfway mark before Gomez shook Kahlefeldt after three laps. The Spaniard knocked out a 30:29 run, 28 seconds better than the second-place Aussie, to put him at the line in 1:49:50. Don finished nine seconds back of Kahlefeldt for third, his first World Cup medal since a bronze at Salford in 2005.

But in perhaps the most exciting race within the race, Bennett passed fellow 2008 Australian team contender Simon Thompson with two laps to go and newcomer Brendan Sexton on the final lap on his way to a 31:01 10km that scored him a fifth-place finish and a solid shot at a second Olympics. In the New Zealand team race, Terenzo Bozzone's 14th place bested Shane Reed's 25th by 50 seconds, strengthening his bid to join Docherty and Kris Gemell on the Kiwi squad.

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