Bermuda’s Flora Duffy completed a dream season with her sixth Xterra World Championship title, while New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde added the Xterra championship title to his bronze medal from Tokyo.
As we reported yesterday, organizers had to cancel the swim at this year’s race due to hazardous water conditions, but that didn’t seem to make much difference for Duffy as she led from start to finish to take the women’s title. The Bermudan Olympic gold medalist and world champion finished the first 3 km run just under 20 seconds ahead of Mexico’s Michelle Flip, then continued to lead the way after the 31 km bike, hitting T2 with a lead of over four minutes on Switzerland’s Loanne Duvoisin. She gained even more time on the 11 km final run, finishing over seven minutes ahead of Duvoisin for the win. Flipo would round out the podium.
Women’s pro results:
- Flora Duffy (BER) 2:39:49
- Loanne Duvoisin (SUI) 2:46:56
- Michelle Flipo (MEX) 2:50:17
- Eleanor Proncini (ITA) 2:56:09
- Suzie Snyder (USA) 3:02:01
Wilde takes close men’s race
New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde’s first triathlon was Xterra Rotorua in 2015, and he would go on to win the U19 division in Maui in 2015 and 2016. After his bronze-medal performance in Tokyo this summer he decided to return to off-road racing, which appears to have been a good decision based on his performance today.
Wilde was in front after the first 3 km run, but found himself in a tough battle through the bike with a group of Xterra veterans including France’s Arthur Serrieres, Spain’s Ruben Ruzafa, along with American Seth Rider. Wilde would run his way to a 23-second win over Serrieres, with Ruzafa only another 31 seconds behind in third.
Men’s pro results
- Hayden Wilde (NZL) 2:18:39
- Arthur Serrieres (FRA) 2:19:02
- Ruben Ruzafa Cueto (ESP) 2:19:33
- Seth Rider (USA) 2:20:43
- Sebastian Carabin (BEL) 2:21:02
