There will come a point in the next few years where a sixth-placed finish in a triathlon World Cup race will be pretty much business as usual for 18-year-old Flora Duffy.

But given that this weekend?s phenomenal result in Cancun, Mexico came at the tail end of only her first season of professional competition, the emerging international superstar admitted yesterday that even she is surprised at the speed with which success has greeted her.

The former Warwick Academy student beat off competition from scores of the world?s top female triathletes to finish the 1.2-mile swim, 40-kilometre bike ride and 10-kilometre run in two hours, two minutes and 28 seconds ? only 11 seconds off a place on the winners podium.

Duffy has now left Mexico and returned to school in the UK until Christmas, where she will no doubt reflect with pride on a golden nine-month spell which saw her place ninth at the Commonwealth Games, second at the World Junior Triathlon Championships in Laussane, Switzerland and ninth also in another World Cup race in Hamburg, Germany.

Just shy of her 19th birthday, Duffy is several years younger than most of her nearest rivals in the professional ranks, and is regarded by many who follow and commentate on the sport as a world champion in the making.

For now though, she?s keen to play down the already burgeoning expectations and is simply looking forward to a few weeks off to allow her exhausted body to repair itself.

?Given how tired I was feeling going into the race, I was truly shocked to come away with a sixth place,? she said.

?It?s been a long year and I wasn?t sure how my body was going to react to another World Cup race, but once I got going I was surprised how good I felt.

?The swim went well and I got a good start, and then I had an absolutely fantastic first transition and I left the transition area in first place on the bike ? which kind of shocked me as well because that?s never happened to me before in any World Cup race.

?It makes a big different being near the front because in past races I have been mainly coming from behind which means you have to work that much harder to get back in contention and sometimes you have to expend a little too much energy.

?The bike ride was extremely tough though because pretty much straight after we began it started to absolutely pour down with rain.

?It was like a monsoon ? it was so heavy I could barely see ten feet in front of my face and it was lucky that the course was reasonably flat and easy because if it had been a little more technical there?s no doubt some people would have fallen off their bikes.

?But I managed to get through the bike just by maintaining a pace I was comfortable with, and though my legs felt a little wobbly at the the beginning of the run, I managed to get it together and just concentrated on picking off as many people in front of me as I could.

?I was incredibly happy with my ninth place in Hamburg, but to come sixth in a World Cup race at this stage was not something I expected. It certainly gives me a lot of confidence for next year.?

In four World Cup races this season, Duffy has finished 24th, ninth, 19th and sixth, leaving her at 38th in the World Cup rankings and 28th in the Olympic qualifying standings ? the latter well inside the top 55 finish required to get to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

?I?m in a good position right now ? far better than I thought I?d be,? she said.

While Duffy?s results are expected to improve as she grows older, stronger and more experienced, the name that has dominated the world of female triathlon this year is Vanessa Fernandez of Portugal, who won all six of the World Cup races she competed in and at 22, is four years Duffy?s senior.

But with no other teenager coming close to the Bermudian?s outstanding record in the World Cup ranks this year, does Duffy feel that she could be giving the world number one a run for her money in the not too distant future?

?I?ve definitely got time on my side, but as for challenging somebody like Vanessa I just don?t know,? she replied.

?She has completely dominated every race she?s been involved in this year and I?ve got a way to go before I can even get close to her.

?But hopefully I might be in a position where I can challenge her one day, though I don?t really know when that will be. For now I?m more focused on having a little break from it all, and then getting back into training in preparation for next year.

?I?ve set high standards for myself now and it?s going to take a lot of hard work to maintain them.?

With schooling a priority, Duffy intends to miss the opening two World Cup races of next year in both Australia and Japan, before resuming competition in Portugal next May.