Dame Flora Duffy Finishes Fifth At 70.3 Worlds
[Written by Stephen Wright]
Dame Flora Duffy finished fifth in her first Ironman 70.3 World Championships in St George, Utah.
Duffy, a wild-card entry, was in second place during the bike and run before showing signs of fatigue, finishing in 4hr 13min 33sec, with splits of 24:21, 2:21:29 and 1:25:04.
She had only completed one half-distance race before today, winning the 70.3 South Africa in January 2020.
Taylor Knibb, of the United States, stormed to the title in 4:03:20, with Canadian Paula Findlay second in 4:08:57 and Emma Pallant-Browne, of Britain, third in 4:10:45.
Duffy came out of the water after the 1.2-mile swim, leading a chase group of five athletes and moved into second place by mile ten of the 56-mile bike.
Knibb found herself in a strong position at the start of the 13.1-mile run, with Duffy, Findlay and Lucy Charles-Barclay, of Britain, jostling for positions.
Duffy missed the 70.3 Worlds in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in 2018 and Nice, France, the following year because of injury. The race in 2020, for which Duffy had qualified, was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Bermudian was eligible to compete last year, also in St George, but opted out due to exhaustion after winning the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
She will now turn her attention to World Triathlon Series Bermuda next weekend.
