With the Beijing Olympics fast approaching, Lisa Tweddle, a 21-year old third-year journalism student at Sunderland University who also competed at the World Age Group Championships at Lausanne in 2006 - gives us her view on one of triathlons most interesting and exciting stories of female rivalry. This feature was prepared as part of her portfolio for her university course.

In the world of triathlon, Portuguese superstar Vanessa Fernandes is hot property. At the age of just 22, her record of 19 World Cup victories speaks for itself. But none of that will matter when the Beijing Olympic Games, which are less than six months away, hits our TV screens. The expected showdown between Fernandes and her great Aussie rival, Emma Snowsill looks very much on.

In 2007, Fernandes won the World Championships in Hamburg, Germany. She was clearly delighted but admitted after the race that it was the Olympic title she craved the most and rightly so, if she can pull it off. Add to that her dominance on the World Cup circuit and her world title, she will have won every coveted triathlon award available in Olympic distance racing, and she still has years ahead of her yet.

However, most bets appear to be on Snowsill to win in Beijing. In Hamburg, after a poor first transition, Fernandes was able to pull over one minute clear of the diminutive Australian and by then it was race over as the pair can run as fast as each other.

Whilst Fernandes was cruising in the lead, Snowsill pulled out all of the stops and blitzed through the field from 16th to second in the final 400m of the 10k run. She was so determined as she had given everything to fight back that she collapsed over the finish line and in doing so, had the days fastest run split, a blistering 32:54.

Saying that, I still put my money on Fernandes to win the Olympic title. She is consistent - she can swim as fast as anyone, bike with the best and on the run she comes into her own, setting a relentless pace with a high cadence that destroys her rivals one by one.

Except for Snowsill, that is. However, in 2007 the Aussie genius was very inconsistent, she raced sparingly on the World Cup circuit and in the races she did she seemed to have a few problems such as breathing difficulties and slow transitions, which left her out of contention. Should she win Beijing, everything will need to go right.

But you can't escape the fact that Snowsill, prior to 2007, was a triple world champion. I was there in Lausanne, Switzerland watching the 2006 race standing by the roadside in awe of what I was witnessing as this time both athletes set out on the run together. Fernandes, as usual, set off like a woman possessed and within five minutes, victory looked to be hers, however Snowsill was never far behind. She fought back, caught up, then one minute later made her break for victory.

Five metres soon became ten, which soon became 150m and by this time the race really was over as Snowsill managed to win by 45 seconds. To me, I think Fernandes had raced too much prior to the World Championships and looked tired in Lausanne whereas Snowsill put all of her eggs in one basket to focus on the one race that mattered that year.

But that day, something seemed to click for Fernandes; she was sick of being the bridesmaid and at the next race, incidentally a World Cup event in Beijing two weeks later, she turned the tables to win ahead of Snowsill.

Maybe it was fate, but from then on Snowsill has been playing the bridesmaid to Fernandes. Both competed in similar events as they did in 2006 but it looks like it was the Portuguese athlete who came back the strongest in 2007 and she doesn't show any signs of slowing down.

Whatever happens, both girls will be putting everything into their training and racing for 2008. Maybe we will see a pre-Olympic build-up race between them, which will be interesting but not necessarily a suggestion of how Beijing will go.

But one thing is certain, the prospect of a duel between the pair is enough to send shivers down anyone's spine and promises to be a fight to the wire.

Let the racing commence!