Flora Duffy wins coveted title XTERRA World Champion 2021
In Flora Duffy’s last race of an incredible season the Olympic and World Champion added the coveted title of Xterra World Champion to her career list of eleven World Champion gold medals.
The world’s premier off-road triathlon celebrated its 25th year off-road on December 5, 2021, with a “winner take all” race, and one of the richest pro purses in multisport at $100,000, from which Duffy will collect a $20,000 share.
The event took place on the Hawaiian island of Maui, the birthplace of off-road triathlon (the first being held in 1969). Xterra’s mantra of ‘Mother Nature is your toughest competitor’ came to fruition as hazardous sea-waters of strong surf and currents made the swim section too dangerous for the competitors, so the race was altered to a duathlon with the swim being transformed into a 3k run.
This 3k run was to be combined with a 31-kilometer (19.2-miles) mountain bike that climbed 3,500 feet up and down the lower slopes of the West Maui Mountains, and a 10.5-kilometre (6.5-miles) trail run that traversed forest trails, and beach sand.
None of this was to deter Bermudian Flora Duffy, who become the first triathlete to win both the Olympics and world title in the same year, from continuing on the gold fever quest to claim her sixth Xterra World Championship title. Duffy being the most decorated women’s competitor in the 25-year history of Xterra, the earthier form of triathlon, having won titles in 2019, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014.
The Bermudian was the red-hot favourite to reclaim her crown despite facing a formidable field, including ITU Cross Tri World champion Loanne Duvoisin of Switzerland; former Xterra Worlds runner-up Michelle Flipo of Mexico; and ITU Cross Tri World title winner Eleonora Peroncini of Italy.
But it was Duffy’s persistence as well as her mental and physical fortitude that set her apart from the other athletes— and set her on the path to do what no other female triathlete has done before and win a sixth Xterra world title and secure her place in the Xterra all-time greats list.
Full Results HERE
