 Bermuda's Flora Duffy had won the World Triathlon Championships in Mexico and has also captured the World Triathlon Title.
Duffy floored it on the bike in hot and humid conditions in Cozumel, winning the race and securing her place in history as the 2016 ITU World Triathlon Series Champion.
The world title is the first WTS crown Duffy has scored, as well as the first time Bermuda has topped the World Championship podium in the sport of Triathlon.
Coming into the race, Duffy was the top ranked woman in the Columbia Threadneedle Rankings, but only by 166 points. That meant she needed to either beat Olympic champion Gwen Jorgensen or come second to her, which was not going to be an easy feat considering Jorgensen had only lost two races in the last two years before starting on Saturday.
But a breakaway on the bike saw Duffy run into the sun with a large enough gap that Jorgensen and company couldn’t overcome. Jorgensen ran in front of her the field to finish both second on the day and second in the Columbia Threadneedle Rankings.
Charlotte McSchane, who trains with Jorgensen, closed out the season with her first-ever WTS podium with bronze, while Japan’s Ai Ueda finished fifth to end the season third overall in the rankings. Her season third place is the highest any Japanese athlete has ever finished.
Crystal clear waters awaited the women, who were the first group of elites to crown a world champion. The course offered up only one 1500 metre swim and with the ocean current, the field essentially saw one long string of swimmers. About seven women were able to get a slight lead, Great Britain’s Jessica Learmonth and Lucy Hall along with Duffy, Jorgensen, Sarah True, Carolina Routier, Pamella Oliveira.
Coming out of the swim it was just a small workable lead of just five seconds that Duffy, Learmonth and Hall had over Jorgensen. But it was enough for the three to have a swift transition and push out onto the bike with no one else able to join them.
Despite Jorgensen exiting the water in fifth, she could not get into the lead pack and started out the bike in a trio alongside True and Routier.
The second chase group tallied a few more riders. Led by all three Brit Olympians, Vicky Holland, Non Stanford and Helen Jenkins, it only took a lap and a half before they forced their group of 13 to join onto the tail end of Jorgensen and create the now main chase of 17 women.
Duffy has made a name for herself as one of the strongest cyclists in the field, and it was that discipline where she needed to make the most ground if she wanted to earn the world title. This time working with Learmonth and Hall, the three continued to increase their lead after each lap. At the halfway mark of the cycle they had a gap of 42 seconds over the chase. And by the end of the cycle, that gap had increased to over a minute.
Getting through the second transition, Duffy gunned it out of the gate and in no time left Learmonth and Hall to fend for themselves.
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