Johns has his sights set on Olympic qualification

Andrew Johns won the bronze medal at the Triathlon World Cup meeting in New Zealand to secure his first podium finish in the series since 2003.

Johns, 34, broke away on the cycle leg with 13 others, including fellow Britons Stuart Hayes and Alistair Brownlee, and dug in to take third.

Liz Blatchford came fifth in the women's event in New Plymouth.

Meanwhile, world champion Chrissie Wellington won the Ironman Australia title by more than five minutes.

She crossed the line in nine hours, three minutes and 55 seconds to clinch her third Ironman victory from three starts.

The British success is another boost to the squad following Tim Don's bronze medal at the opening World Cup race in Australia last week.

It feels like I�m getting back to creating my very best so I'm very pleased to be fifth and close to the podium Liz Blatchford

Johns is now turning his attention to qualifying for the Olympics at the Madrid event in May.

Hayes finished ninth, Olly Freeman came through to take 13th, Richard Stannard, who led after the opening swim section, was 32nd but Brownlee slipped back to 49th.

Blatchford, who was competing in only her second race since since being clipped by a car while training in December, said: "I'm really happy with my race.

"It feels like I�m getting back to creating my very best so I'm very pleased to be fifth and close to the podium.

"Last week's race in Mooloolaba [Blatchford was 17th] was disappointing, but it helped to blow the cobwebs away and got me back up to speed with competitive World Cup racing."

Andrea Whitcombe came through strongly during the run to finish sixth, while Helen Tucker took 13th and Kerry Lang 18th.