Roding Valley Triathlete Claire Bloom struck gold at the Cardiff Triathlon World Sprint Qualifier for Malaga 2024.

Bloom was looking to secure qualification for next year's World Championships and needed to finish in the top four of the 60-64 age group to secure her place.

But soaring temperatures and strong winds, and a race start time of 12.15pm, made for a challenging race.

Bloom set off in the 750m swim section in Cardiff Bay and exited with a season's best time of 14.05 in second place behind Caroline Madden who took a six-second lead into the first transition.

Both exited T1 together and hit the 20km bike circuit consisting of a four-lap draft legal section, but Bloom managed to take the lead at the end of the first lap and then pulled away, finishing the leg with a two-minute lead.

With just the 5km run section to come, Bloom exited T2 running onto an out-and-back course which proved a brutally windy affair.

Completing the total course in a winning time of 1:17.07 Bloom took the age group win and secured her place in the 2024 World Sprint Triathlon team.

Next up is this year's World Sprint Championships in Hamburg next month with Bloom in fine form for the event.