Flora Duffy to miss WTCS Yokohama 2021 to focus on Toyko Olympics

Flora Duffy, twice crowned ITU World Champion and a major contender for the gold medal at this summer’s Olympic Games will not be competing at the World Triathlon Championship Series opener in Yokohama, Japan, this Saturday, as she continues her preparations for the Games.

Whilst many of world’s fastest triathletes will be lining up for the tenth edition of WTCS Yokohama, Japan on May 15 to compete head-to-head in the first race of World Triathlon Series 2021, Duffy is not planning a return to competitive action until either a title defence at the World Triathlon Cup Arzachena, in Italy from May 29, or the second race of the Championship Series in Leeds, England, on June 5.

“There is a combination of reasons why I’ve decided not to compete in Yokohama,” Duffy told Bermuda’s, The Royal Gazette. “There is quite a strict bubble protocol for that race weekend and still quite a lot of risks with flying over to Japan because of Covid…As a result, my coaching team thought it would be best to skip that event and keep preparing for the Games here in Boulder [Colorado, United States] as the Olympics remain my main priority”. The World Triathlon Championship Series 2021 starts this weekend.

Duffy remains in line to qualify for the Olympic Games on the basis of her being ranked WTS number 1 alongside Georgia Taylor-Brown of GB and having claimed victory at the Tokyo Olympic Test Event in August 2019, ranking at 27th well inside the top 140 athletes Olympic ranking requirement.

Duffy, who represented Bermuda in Beijing in 2008, London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016 will be fully fit on returning to the biggest sporting stage; where she will hope to cap off her expected Olympic swansong in fitting style, with gold-medal glory