Duffy tops standings after storming to fourth straight victory

EDMONTON, Canada, CMC – Bermudian triathlete Flora Duffy climbed to the top of the World Triathlon Series (WTS) women’s standings in this Canadian city, the capital of Alberta, on Saturday after storming to her fourth straight victory of the season.
Duffy, 29, the reigning world champion, led home the field of 33 on a sunny day to win the sprint race in just over an hour, and was joined on the podium by young American Taylor Knibb in second and another US runner, Katie Zaferes, third.
Duffy crossed the line in one hour and 22 seconds, with 19-year-old Knibb, in only the third WTS race of her career, a minute behind, and Zaferes a further 29 seconds back. Another American, Summer Cook, was fourth in 1:02:03.
Duffy has stepped into the dominant role on the prestigious circuit in the absence of American Olympic gold medallist Gwen Jorgensen, who is taking a year off to have a baby.
Duffy was well placed after emerging from the 750-metre swim in under nine minutes, and when it came to the 20-kilometre bike ride only a few Americans were able to follow the hard push of the Bermudian.
When the bike looked almost done, Duffy did another great push on the bell lap, enough to allow her to make it to the transition alone, with 12 seconds to spare over Knibb.
Duffy then kept her rhythm on the final lap – a five-kilometre run – to secure the sixth win of her career.
“Taylor [Knibb] is riding super strong at the moment,” Duffy said afterwards. “I have been in a breakaway with her before, in Montreal last year. We worked together really well today but she was so strong I thought she might be running really strong, too. So I attacked her on the last hill to get a little buffer.”
Duffy, who went into the race fourth in the standings, now leads the series on 3,200 points with Zaferes demoted to second on 3,192. Kirsten Kasper of the US, who finished ninth on Saturday, maintained third spot on 2,677.
Saturday’s success for Duffy followed earlier wins in Hamburg, Leeds and Yokohama, having missed the first two WTS races of the season, in Abu Dhabi in March and Gold Coast in April, with a hip injury.
Montreal will host the season’s seventh WTS race next weekend.