Duffy routs rivals to retain world title

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands, (CMC)  – Bermudian Flora Duffy routed her rivals to retain the world title she won in Cozumel, Mexico last year when she stormed to victory in the ITU World Triathlon Series grand final in a wet and cold Rotterdam on Saturday.
Duffy, 29, was second out of the water in the 1,500-metre swim, led after the 40-kilometre bike ride and stormed clear during the 10-kilometre run to finish the campaign with 5,200 points – her sixth win of the season after missing the first two races through injury.
“It was a pretty perfect day for me. It went just the way I wanted it to,” Duffy said afterwards, adding: “I held strong on the run.”
Duffy completed the course in one hour, 58 minutes and 39 seconds – 55 seconds ahead of Katie Zaferes, of the United States, who led Duffy briefly after the bike transition before quickly being reeled in.
Duffy finished the swim only one second behind Jessica Learmonth, of Britain, who led four times out of the water in nine races this season. Learmonth held on to finish third in 2:00:57 despite suffering a calf injury in the closing stages.
Australia’s Ashleigh Gentle, the only athlete to beat Duffy this season, finished second in the overall standings on 4,320 points after a sixth-place finish on Saturday. Zaferes finished third overall on 4,302 points.
Duffy, who missed the first two races of the season, in Abu Dhabi and on Australia’s Gold Coast because of a hip injury, roared back to win the next four – in Yokohama, Leeds, Hamburg and Edmonton.
Her winning streak was ended in Montreal when she finished second behind Gentle. But Duffy returned to winning ways by taking last month’s race in Stockholm.
Spain’s Mario Mila retained his men’s world title after finishing third in Saturday’s race in Rotterdam.