Lauren Parker wanted to "destroy her competition" in Devonport and that is exactly what the Paralympic gold medal hopeful did to secure her third straight paratriathlon victory in Tasmania on Saturday.
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The Newcastle 32-year-old is the world paratriathlon champion in her classification and is eyeing gold in Tokyo in August.
While racing was put on hold for around 12 months due to the global coronavirus pandemic, Parker poured herself into training and is now reaping the rewards.
She shrugged off "a few hiccups" to perform a threepeat of the City of Newcastle Paratriathlon in a sensational return to racing one week before the Devonport race.
There were no hurdles on Saturday as Parker produced what she described as "one of the best races I've ever done".
In Newcastle, Parker broke a swim splint that holds her legs straight and limits resistance in the water but there were no such issues on Saturday. She has only started trialing the equipment and described it as "a game changer".
She established a lead of almost three minutes in the swim leg, then widened the gap on her Commonwealth Games teammates Emily Tapp and Sara Tait with power-packed bike and run legs.
She won in one hour, eight minutes and 42 seconds. The winning time was an improvement of around five minutes on Parker's effort last year. Tapp was second in 1:19.58 and Tait third in 1:30.49.
"I felt awesome out there," Parker told the Newcastle Herald. "I started off with a great swim and got a big lead.
"I really wanted to put together a good bike, as if it was just a bike time trial, and then a good run, just as if it was a run time trial.
"I did that and I'm super happy with where I'm at. I'm definitely stronger than a year ago and that's through all the hard work during COVID."
In addition to paratriathlon, Parker is trying to qualify for two hand-cycling events at the Paralympics.
"I wanted to produce good numbers on the bike because Cycling Australia will look at those numbers as well and that could go towards my selection," she said. "I did that and I'm really happy."
Parker was looking forward to more valuable paratriathlon racing in Mooloolaba on March 13 and 14.
"It's another chance to race," Parker said. "We're not really sure what's on the racing schedule and it's all up in the air at the moment after Mooloolaba. That's why I'm wanting to get in as much racing as possible."
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