As good as Flora Duffy has become in draft-legal triathlon racing, she is even more dominant when it comes to the off-road version of the sport. The Bermudan took her fourth straight Xterra world title this weekend, leading the entire race. She was so dominant that 26 km into the bike she was already ahead by six minutes.
In the end Barbara Riveros would finish second to the two-time ITU world champ, but was eight-minutes behind. Germany’s Laura Philipp, who did her first off-road event in France earlier this year, took third after a “pleasant-surprise” swim that had her fourth out of the water. Xterra European champion Brigitta Poor finished fourth while former Xterra world champ Lesley Patterson finished an astonishing fifth. Patterson was injured after winning the Xterra Pan American Championship in September and was dealing with a stress fracture in her hip, which prevented her from doing any run training.