Ashleigh Gentle will be on the other side of the Pacific Ocean as her fellow top Australian triathletes battle for Commonwealth Games selection.
Gentle has been a mainstay of national teams, racing at the Glasgow and Gold Coast Commonwealth Games as well as the past two Olympics.
But she will be a big name missing from Sunday's Gold Coast Triathlon, where the men's and women's winners will gain automatic nominations for the Birmingham team.
Instead, the 31-year-old is starting the next phase of her triathlon career at the Ironman 70.3 Oceanside race in California.
While Gentle has raced 70.3 races before, she has made her name in the shorter sprint or Olympic-distance events.
Now she plans to concentrate on 70.3, or half-Ironman -- a 1.9km swim, 90km cycle and 21.1km run.
Gentle will find out quickly how she stacks up over the longer distance, as she goes up against top names such as Swiss ace Daniela Ryf, American Taylor Knibb and Holly Lawrence of Wales.
"I feel like this is what I've decided to do now, it's the start of that new chapter I suppose," Gentle said.
"I honestly don't know how I'm going to stack up but it's the perfect opportunity to see how I do.
"I'm just excited to be able to race against a lot of girls who are a little bit stronger at that distance."
Gentle was a member of the Australian mixed relay team that won the gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, at the same Broadwater Parklands race site where Sunday's race will be held.
Two of her gold medal-winning teammates from four years ago, Jake Birtwhistle and Matt Hauser, will be among the favourites for the men's sprint race, a 750m swim, 20km cycle and 5km race.
Rising star Matilda Orford, 22, is suddenly the woman to beat after she won lead-up races at Devonport and Mooloolaba.
They were her first wins as an elite competitor.
Established competitors Natalie Van Coevorden, Charlotte McShane and Tokyo Olympian Jaz Hedgeland will also race on Sunday.
The weekend's action is the first of two automatic nomination races for the Birmingham team, before the May World Triathlon Series round in Yokohama.
