The women were the first to race in the seaside city of San Sebastián with Gentle and fellow Aussie Natalie Van Coevorden in the lead alongside Canadian Amelie Kretz.

At 2km mark, Van Coevorden suffered a fall which meant that she would lose the fight for the gold.

Gentle pushed ahead with more than a five minute lead over Van Coevorden and 6:40 over Helene Alberdi of Spain, who had passed to Kretz in the climb to Mendizorrotz.

The 10km run saw Gentle extend her lead to finish 10 minutes ahead of second place with a time of 2:06:46.

Van Coevorden held onto second while Kretz had passed Alberdi with 5km to the finish line to clinch third.