Flora Duffy was well below her best at the Under-23 World Championships in Vancouver, Canada, yesterday finishing in a disappointing 17th position out of 19 triathletes.

Duffy dropped down to the Under-23 division rather than compete against the professionals in the Open category in a bid to rediscover her form and restore her fragile confidence.

But with just two months remaining until she heads to the Beijing Olympics, Duffy would have hoped to have produced a more impressive performance.

She had her sights on a top ten finish and made a strong start to the race, emerging from the swim somewhere near the back of the front pack in a time of 20 minutes and 35 seconds.

But the Island's Female Athlete of the Year recorded the second slowest time out of all the competitors on the bike, clocking 1.13.41, before posting a laboured 42.22 run.

At least Duffy managed to finish her first race of the season after she was forced to retire from last month's South African World Cup BG due to mechanical difficulties with her bike.

The Paget-born youngster will be looking to groove her way back into form before she returns to action in the BG World Cup in Tiszaujvaros, in Hungary, on July 13.