Barbara Riveros-Diaz of Chile pulled away on the run to win the Ishigaki ITU World Cup Sunday.

Riveros-Diaz, the 4-foot 11-inch dynamo who finished 3rd in the Mooloolaba ITU World Cup and 2nd at the Sydney ITU World Championship Series event earlier this year, completed an early season full house of podium medals with a 2:01:57 finish for gold at Ishigaki. She had a 23 seconds margin of victory over runner-up Aileen Morrison of Ireland and 37 seconds over the third place finisher, the remarkable 40-year-old three-time Olympian Kiyomi Niwata of Japan.

The 3-2-1 finishes mirror Riveros-Diaz’s big splash winning the Sydney opening round of the ITU World Championship Series last year followed by a 2nd place finish at Seoul and a 6th place at Madrid to head the 2010 WCS points chase after the third round.

This year she took 3rd behind winner Nicky Samuels of New Zealand and the runner-up, two-time ITU World Champion Emma Moffatt of Australia at the Mooloolaba World Cup and 2nd behind Canadian sensation Paula Findlay at the opening round of the 2011 ITU WCS series at Sydney.

Morrison also made a splash last year with a breakthrough 3rd place finish at the 2010 World Championship Series event in Hamburg.

Ishigaki ITU World Cup
Ishigaki, Japan
April 17, 2011
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k

Elite Women’s results

1. Barbara Riveros-Diaz (CHI) 2:01:57
2. Aileen Morrison (IRL) 2:02:20
3. Kiyomi Niwata (JPN) 2:02:34
4. Marina Damlaimcourt (ESP) 2:02:45
5. Erin Densham (AUS) 2:02:59
6. Maria Czesnik (POL) 2:03:15
7. Jillian Petersen (USA) 2:03:20
8. Line Jensen (DEN) 2:03:23
9. Akane Tsuchihashi (JPN) 2:03:25
10. Non Stanford (GBR) 2:03:39
20, Mariko Adachi (JPN) 2:04:21
23. Kirsten Sweetland (CAN) 2:04:44
32. Emma Davis (IRL) 2:06:57
33. Ainhoa Murua (ESP) 2:07:05