
By her own admission, Flora Duffy’s eight place finish in the Olympics was a disappointment even though she did Bermuda proud.
This weekend the Triathlon World Series continues in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and Flora will be looking to put all of that behind her as she looks to solidify her top spot in the World Series points ranking. Jodie Stimpson of the UK and Andrea Hewitt are hot on Flora’s heels for the overall title so Flora will need to refind the form she showed in Stockholm and Montreal, her last two races before Rio, where she took first place. The World Series culminates in Cozumel, Mexico on Saturday September 17th with the World Championships which is also the last race of the World Series. With double points awarded for the World Championship race, on Sunday Flora will be looking to widen the gap on her rivals before Cozumel.
Last year the Edmonton race was run in brutal conditions with low temperatures and driving rain and Flora relished the conditions finishing a close second ( by 9 seconds) to GB’s Vicky Holland , the Rio bronze medalist. Says Flora, “fingers crossed it is cold, rainy and windy this weekend…those conditions suit me better than the other two”.
Also taking to the start line in Edmonton will be Tyler Smith who has spent the last few weeks in Victoria BC with coach Kelly Guest preparing for this final race in the Canadian Junior Elite Series before the Junior Elite World Championships which are also in Cozumel. Tyler will be hoping for a top five finish after his impressive 4th place finish in the Quebec Provincial Championships ( an event that was turned into a duathlon because of adverse water quality conditions).
Erica Hawley has now started at Boulder University but will be making the trip to Edmonton to compete in the Women’s Canadian Junior Elite Series. After a stellar season which has seen her posting a number of top ten finishes in the Series, Erica will be hoping for another solid race ahead of the World Championships in Cozumel. Erica, like Tyler, will be heading to Cozumel for the Junior World Championships.
Flora races this Sunday 4th September at 3PM Bermuda time whilst Tyler and Erica race on Saturday 3rd September with Erica starting at 4PM and Tyler at 6PM Bermuda time.
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