Flora Duffy, the Bermuda triathlete, continued her impressive start to the season with a fifth-place finish in the Gold Coast World Cup Triathlon today.

Featuring some of the best names in the sport, Duffy was caught on the finish line by New Zealand’s Andrea Hewitt, posting an overall time of 1hr 59min 05sec.

Duffy, 27, was sixth out of the water in 19:26, taking long turns at the front of the 43-kilometre bike ride, finishing in 1:03:02, before joining a pack of seven leaders in the 10-kilometre run.

Despite a 15 second penalty for not racking her bike, America’s Gwen Jorgensen, looking for her eighth-straight win, soon distanced herself from the group, with Duffy (35:43) being pipped agonisingly at the line by Hewitt.

It was a one. two, three for America, with Jorgensen finishing in 1:56:59, Sarah True in 1:58:17 and Katie Zaferes in 1:58:35.

Duffy won the Xterra South African Championships last month, her third in a row, having claimed victories in the Philippines and an ITU Sprint Triathlon, also in South Africa.

Jonathan Brownlee, the 2012 Olympic Games silver medal winner, finished first in the Gold Coast in 1:46:53, with Spain’s Mario Mola coming second in 1:47:11, and his compatriot Javier Gómez Noya third in 1:47:21.