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Duffy broke out to a one minute lead midway through Stockholm’s tough and curvy cobblestoned bike course and dropped to a 23 seconds margin at T2. Duffy then unleashed a 2nd-best 34:28 10k run to finish Stockholm’s rugged course in 2:03:38 with a 20 seconds margin of victory on New Zealand’s Andrea Hewitt (race-best 34:22 run) and 28 seconds on 3rd-place Helen Jenkins of Great Britain.
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Race recap
Zaferes led the choppy swim in 20:05, with Duffy, Sarah True and Jure Ide close behind and British top contenders Vicky Holland, Jodie Stimpson, Non Stanford and Helen Jenkins about 20 seconds back.
Right off the bat on the bike leg, Duffy, True, Ide and Zaferes broke away to a 100 meter lead. Duffy surged out front, hoping someone from the original quartet would go with her, but no one could match her pace.
“I managed to ride a bit more controlled today, I have learned from [her 2nd place finish at WTS] Leeds. It is so much more technical here and that is my strength, so I just tried to gain as much time as I could in the technical sections and then ride smooth for any straightaways. It just worked out to ride solo. I came out of the swim with a few girls and I was hoping they would come up behind on my wheel but they didn’t and then I was in no-man’s land, so there were times where I was questioning what I was doing out there, but I just stuck to my plan and it worked out today.”
After the 2nd lap, WTS rookie Taylor Knibb surged away from the second chase pack and on the next lap rode to the front of 16 chasers. By the 4th lap, Duffy increased her lead to 59 second on 15 chasers who included True, Nicky Samuels, Jenkins, Hewitt, Charlotte McShane of Australia, Ai Ueda, Knibb, Holland, and Zaferes.
At this point, Duffy decided to reserve some energy for the run and allowed her solo lead to plateau. After a race-best 1:07:37 bike leg, Duffy started the run with a 23 seconds lead on Mari Rabie of South Africa, 25 on Vendula Frintova of the Czech Republic, 26 on Hewitt, Ide and Jenkins, and 27 seconds on True.
While many observers expected that Duffy’s lead would quickly evaporate after her brave solo effort on the bike, Duffy’s decision to back off slightly the last half of the bike leg paid off. At the halfway point of the 10k run, Duffy increased her lead to 29 seconds over Hewitt, 30 seconds on Jenkins and 33 seconds on Ueda, with True and Holland dropping 7 and 8 seconds off the leading chasers.
On the 3rd lap, Hewitt and Jenkins broke away from Ueda, True, and Holland and pushed hard in search of Duffy. At the end of Lap 3, Hewitt and Jenkins managed to slice Duffy’s lead to 21 and 22 seconds, but at that point Duffy slammed the door shut, finishing with a 2nd-best 34:28 run and a 20 seconds lead on Hewitt and 28 seconds on Jenkins.
“I am really happy to get on the podium today,” said Jenkins. “I made life hard for myself, I had a terrible swim, but I felt good on the bike and on the run I just kind of hung in there, but I am really happy to come away with a podium. Flora is so strong at the moment. I am actually really happy for her to get the win. She deserves it the way she raced today.”
Zaferes led the choppy swim in 20:05, with Duffy, Sarah True and Jure Ide close behind and British top contenders Vicky Holland, Jodie Stimpson, Non Stanford and Helen Jenkins about 20 seconds back.
Right off the bat on the bike leg, Duffy, True, Ide and Zaferes broke away to a 100 meter lead. Duffy surged out front, hoping someone from the original quartet would go with her, but no one could match her pace.
“I managed to ride a bit more controlled today, I have learned from [her 2nd place finish at WTS] Leeds. It is so much more technical here and that is my strength, so I just tried to gain as much time as I could in the technical sections and then ride smooth for any straightaways. It just worked out to ride solo. I came out of the swim with a few girls and I was hoping they would come up behind on my wheel but they didn’t and then I was in no-man’s land, so there were times where I was questioning what I was doing out there, but I just stuck to my plan and it worked out today.”
After the 2nd lap, WTS rookie Taylor Knibb surged away from the second chase pack and on the next lap rode to the front of 16 chasers. By the 4th lap, Duffy increased her lead to 59 second on 15 chasers who included True, Nicky Samuels, Jenkins, Hewitt, Charlotte McShane of Australia, Ai Ueda, Knibb, Holland, and Zaferes.
At this point, Duffy decided to reserve some energy for the run and allowed her solo lead to plateau. After a race-best 1:07:37 bike leg, Duffy started the run with a 23 seconds lead on Mari Rabie of South Africa, 25 on Vendula Frintova of the Czech Republic, 26 on Hewitt, Ide and Jenkins, and 27 seconds on True.
While many observers expected that Duffy’s lead would quickly evaporate after her brave solo effort on the bike, Duffy’s decision to back off slightly the last half of the bike leg paid off. At the halfway point of the 10k run, Duffy increased her lead to 29 seconds over Hewitt, 30 seconds on Jenkins and 33 seconds on Ueda, with True and Holland dropping 7 and 8 seconds off the leading chasers.
On the 3rd lap, Hewitt and Jenkins broke away from Ueda, True, and Holland and pushed hard in search of Duffy. At the end of Lap 3, Hewitt and Jenkins managed to slice Duffy’s lead to 21 and 22 seconds, but at that point Duffy slammed the door shut, finishing with a 2nd-best 34:28 run and a 20 seconds lead on Hewitt and 28 seconds on Jenkins.
“I am really happy to get on the podium today,” said Jenkins. “I made life hard for myself, I had a terrible swim, but I felt good on the bike and on the run I just kind of hung in there, but I am really happy to come away with a podium. Flora is so strong at the moment. I am actually really happy for her to get the win. She deserves it the way she raced today.”
