Little could Bermuda’s hero Flora Duffy have imagined that the summer of 2021 would be the most special of her career. Three weeks after becoming the Olympic champion, the Bermudian has again already been showing magnificent form, claiming her first WTCS victory since 2018 in Montreal and landing in Edmonton with a comfortable lead on the Maurice Lacroix World Triathlon Championship Series Ranking. With a circuit that looks like designed for her - tough bike, flat run - only a handful of athletes can prevent the Bermudian claiming a record-equaling third women’s world title and becoming the first triathlete in history to win Olympic gold and the World Championships in the same year.
The athletes will take the stage on Saturday at10.50am local time for the World Triathlon Championship Finals on a course well known by the athletes. The 38 women face a beach start for a 2 -lap, 1500m swim in Hawrelak Park lake to then take to their bikes for 8 hilly and rather technical laps. The race will be decided in the final 10k run, four laps around the lake to finally crown the 2021 World Champion.
Only a week ago, Duffy proved in WTCS Montreal not only that she is one of the strongest athletes in the circuit, but that she is also a master when it comes to race tactics, and that she knows how to economise efforts. Saving some legs and still claiming the victory in Montreal could be decisive for the Bermudian this Saturday, when she will have to battle once more with “The Taylors”: USA’s Taylor Spivey and Taylor Knibb.
Currently ranked second in the Maurice Lacroix World Triathlon Championship Rankings, Spivey has never been on top of a WTCS podium, but no place would be better for her first than Edmonton this weekend to consolidate her podium position in the World Championships after the disappointment of not being selected for the USA’s Olympic team.
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