Todd (17), a year 13 pupil at Columba College, proved her potential when she won a gold medal at the Australia Cup at Melbourne on Saturday.
She jumped two grades to compete in the open 67kg class and beat the experienced international and Australian champion Cassie Fields (26), of Victoria.
Todd, the most promising female wrestler in New Zealand, is coached by Alan Rolton at the Dunedin Combat Sports School. She competed in Australia because there is no competition for her in New Zealand.
The Australia Cup was designated by the Australian Wrestling Federation as a qualifying event for the world championships and the Commonwealth Games.
It took Todd just 30 seconds to beat Field by a pin. She also won a gold medal in the 60kg school cadet class when she was unopposed.
This effort has forced the New Zealand wrestling selectors to designate the Commonwealth championships as a qualifying event for the Commonwealth Games. Todd, the New Zealand champion in her age group, has been wrestling since the age of 8 and has won several national titles.
Her best international performance was to win a gold medal in the girls under-16 63kg class at the Down Under Games on the Gold Coast in 2007. Wrestlers from the United States, Australia and New Zealand participated in the event.
The other gold medals at the Australia Cup were won by Ryan van der Lem (14), a pupil at Kings High School, in the boys aged 14 51kg class, and Hannah Todd, who was unopposed in the 60kg school cadet class.
It was a good event for the six Otago wrestlers from the Dunedin Combat Sports School who won 10 medals - four gold, four silver and two bronze.
Hannah Todd (14), a pupil at Otago Girls High School, won a silver medal in the cadet 59kg class and a bronze medal when she stepped up to the senior women's grade.
Lee van der Lem (15), a pupil at Kings High School, was pushed back into second place by Harris Fazlic (Victoria) in the 64kg school age cadet class. He also won a bronze medal when competing in the 63kg cadet class.
Aiden Spence (15), of John McGlashan College, won silver medals in the 85kg cadet class and another one when he stepped up to a higher junior age 84kg class.
