Flora Duffy of the tiny nation of Bermuda outran Olympic champion Gwen Jorgensen of the U.S. to defend her 67 seconds lead after the bike leg and to win the World Triathlon Series Grand Final and take the World Championship title granted to the season-long WTS points leader.

The victory brought Duffy money as well as glory. She takes home $30,000 for the Grand Final win and $80,000 for the Columbia Threadneedle season-long points lead which confers the World Championship title.

On a steamy hot day on an island just off the Yucatan Peninsula, Duffy was 3rd after the swim, 9 seconds ahead of Jorgensen. Then the Bermudan teamed up with top British swimmers Jessica Learmonth and Lucy Hall in a bike breakaway that yielded the trio a 67 seconds gap on Jorgensen and 1:08 to 1:13 on a quintet of top runners including Charlotte McShane (AUS), Helen Jenkins (GBR), Sarah True (USA), Non Stanford (GBR), and Katie Zaferes (USA).

Perhaps owing to a letdown and tiredness after her publicity responsibilities following her Olympic gold, Jorgensen simply did not have enough in the tank to run down Duffy and had to settle for 2nd place in the Grand Final and 2nd place in the season-long points race for the World Championship.

Duffy definitely earned her title as her closing 10km run split of 35:43 was 3 seconds better than Jorgensen and gave the Bermudan a 1-minute 17-seconds margin of victory over her U.S. rival.

“I have no idea how that happened,” said Duffy. “I always hope and wish for a perfect day and a perfect day came when I needed it most – when the pressure was on.”

On the first lap of the bike, Duffy said she asked her co-conspirators on the bike breakaway if they were committed. “Are you guys working or not? I need to know.” Afterward, she credited Learmonth and Hall: “Thanks for working with me!”

Charlotte McShane of Australia, a training partner of Jorgensen under the guidance of coach Jamie Turner, out sprinted Great Britain’s Helen Jenkins for the bronze, 9 seconds back of Jorgensen and 3 seconds better than Jenkins.

“Flora had a great race today,” said Jorgensen, who now remains one ITU Olympic distance World title behind Emma Snowsill’s three wins. “Today she was better than me and won it in a grand manner.”

SWIM

Jessica Learmonth of Great Britain led the swim in 18:22, which gave her a 3 seconds lead on fellow Brit Lucy Hall, and 6 seconds on Flora Duffy. In a key development, Jorgensen was 7th, among a 4-person chase pack and was 16 seconds back of the leaders - just enough of a gap for Duffy and her two British companions to break away. After a 200 meter run to transition, Learmonth and Hall led the chase to the bike racks while Duffy was 5 seconds back and 9 seconds ahead of Jorgensen.

BIKE

Immediately Learmonth, Hall and Duffy broke away to a 20 seconds gap on the chasers led by Jorgensen. By the end of Lap 1 of 8, Learmonth, Duffy and Hall led Jorgensen and company by 29 seconds. Sadly, two-time ITU World Champion Emma Moffatt, in her last WTS race, suffered a flat tire and withdrew.

By the end of Lap 2, the Duffy trio opened up a 34 seconds lead on a pack of 14, with Jorgensen cruising in 8th place, accompanied by run threats Non Stanford, Vicky Holland, Sarah True, Katie Zaferes and Helen Jenkins. On Lap 3, strong runners Vicky Holland and Nicky Samuels of New Zealand collided and went down hard to the pavement and out of contention. By the end of the lap, Duffy and company increased their lead to 42 seconds over the chase group of 16 women.

For the next few laps, the gap from Duffy’s trio to the chasers plateaued at 42 seconds. By Lap 6, the leaders kept pushing and the top four chasers, including Jorgensen, fell to 51 seconds arrears. On the final two laps, the question arose: Forget Jorgensen, who could run down Duffy’s lead? Could Duffy increase her lead to 60 to 70 seconds – a plausible defensible advantage over top runners Jenkins, Stanford, Zaferes, and True?

After Lap 7, the gap to the chasers was 1 minute 1 second.

All the way to the end, Duffy, Learmonth, and Hall kept pushing full throttle. Duffy, with a 34 minute and 30 seconds PR 10k run could theoretically defend her lead over everyone but Jorgensen.

The gap to the chasers was 1:07 at T2. On such a hot day, Duffy needed to moderate her pace on the run; the heat and humidity could make a redline pace a fatal mistake.

RUN

Duffy led Learmonth and Hall out on the run, charging to a large lead, hitting all the apexes.

Jorgensen led the chasers just one second ahead of Marie Rabe of South Africa. Jenkins, True, Stanford and Zaferes - all candidates to be the runner Jorgensen needed to pass Duffy to secure the World title - were 9th through 12th, 1:09 to 1:13 behind Duffy.

Running in the shadows of the approaching sunset, Duffy looked cool and in control on her first 2.5km lap. Learmonth and Hall dropped back a minute, soon to be gobbled up by Jorgensen and the serious runners.

After Lap 1, Duffy shocked observers by actually increasing her lead on Jorgensen to 1:12 and 1:20 on Helen Jenkins and Non Stanford. The question arose: Did Duffy redline it in desperation and doom herself to a catastrophic blowup in the heat? Playing it conservatively, at this point Duffy could let Jorgensen pass and surrender 25 seconds a lap to Jenkins and Stanford and still walk away with the World Championship.

After 5k of the run, Duffy maintained a 1:07 lead on Jorgensen, 1:22 on Jenkins, 1:27 on Charlotte McShane, 1:32 on Stanford, and 1:36 on True.

On the third lap of the run, Jorgensen looked fatigued, not in the form she showed many times in the past three years while running down all rivals. By the end of the third lap, Jorgensen trailed by 1:14. Eighteen seconds back of Jorgensen, long shot Charlotte McShane of Australia and Helen Jenkins of Great Britain were running side by side for the final spot on the podium.

At the finish, Flora Duffy’s 35:43 run was 3 seconds faster than Jorgensen and brought her to the line in 1:57:59 with a 1:17 margin of victory over the Olympic champion and 1:26 over Australia’s Charlotte McShane, who out sprinted Helen Jenkins by 3 seconds for the bronze.

Japan’s Ai Ueda unleashed a sizzling, race-best 34:49 run split to advance from 25th place, 2:34 down at the end of the bike, to take 5th place. That finish brought Ueda to 3rd place in the season-long WTS Columbia Threadneedle points chase behind Duffy and Jorgensen.

World Triathlon Series Grand Final
Cozumel, Mexico
September 17, 2016
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k

Results

Elite Women

1. Flora Duffy (BER) 1:57:59
2. Gwen Jorgensen (USA) 1:59:16
3. Charlotte McShane (AUS) 1:59:25
4. Helen Jenkins (GBR) 1:59:28
5. Ai Ueda (JPN) 1:59:39
6. Vendula Frintova (CZE) 1:29:44
7. Sarah True (USA) 1:59:58
8. Non Stanford (GBR) 2:00:16
9. Mariya Shorets (RUS) 2:00:21
10. Ashleigh Gentle (AUS) 2:00:34
13. Katie Zaferes (USA)