Natalie Van Coevorden nearly pulled out of her triathlon on Sunday morning and is rapt she was talked into starting.
The Paris Olympian woke up feeling unwell, but rallied and stormed to a breakthrough win at the Ironman 70.3 Geelong race.
The Australian has stepped up in race distance this year and stunned a strong women's field, beating New Zealand star Hannah Berry by 30 seconds.
Belgian Jelle Geens won the men's race, his first hit-out since winning the 70.3, or half-Ironman distance, world title last December.
While Geens started as the men's favourite, Van Coevorden needed some convincing pre-race that she should compete.
"I was messaging my coach, my mum, my boyfriend, saying should I start, should I not start, and they all said back yourself, you've had a really good block of training and you're probably fitter that you think," Van Coevorden said.
"All those years of racing, 13, 14 years of doing triathlon now really paid off today because my body just knew what to do when I needed it most."
Her Paris Olympics teammate Matt Hauser was making his 70.3 debut in Geelong, but he was forced out of the race early on the bike leg because of a mechanical problem.
Van Coevorden won the 1.9km swim, 90km cycle and 21.1km half-marathon event in four hours five minutes 58 seconds.
Berry and third-placed Australian Grace Thek, who clocked 4:07:41, are previous winners at Geelong.
Van Coevorden was near the front throughout the race, taking the lead from Berry eight kilometres into the run and claiming the first round of the Ironman Pro Series.
Geens won in 3:33:23 after also pulling clear in the first half of the run.
Like Van Coevorden, the world champion had to overcome ill health ahead of Geelong.
"It was a hard fought win for sure, because I wasn't 100 per cent sure how I was going to feel because I got sick a couple of weeks ago and then my partner got sick and it was very busy with the baby," Geens said.
"But luckily we had a lot of help from her family. Then in the end I actually felt really good but I needed it today because the guys were on fire."
Geens won by 45 seconds from Australian Jake Birtwhistle, who raced with Hauser at the Tokyo Olympics.
The third member of that Tokyo team, Aaron Royle, was sixth, while New Zealand's Tayler Reid took third in 3:34:38.
