Dame Flora Duffy has expressed her delight after producing a breakthrough performance to finish third in T100 Las Vegas on Saturday.

Duffy, who finished eighth in Ibiza three weeks ago on her first attempt at the 100km distance, looked much more comfortable in Lake Las Vegas, especially on the bike, although she did pick up a one-minute penalty for drafting.

Duffy was part of a four-strong group exiting the 2km swim in 24min 51sec, but broke away from the others to lead outright on the bike for a while before being passed by five of her rivals, with the penalty not aiding her cause.

That left Duffy with work to do on the run but she produced the fourth-fastest run in the field to climb to third place, finishing in a time of 3hr 44min 4sec, just over seven minutes behind the imperious Taylor Knibb, of the United States. Julie Derron, of Switzerland, finished second in 3:39:17.

After the race, Duffy spoke to The Royal Gazette and revealed her delight at making it into the top three after completing the difficult course.

“I’m back sitting in the hotel after for my race, and I’m happy with how it went,” Duffy said.

“It was definitely a really tough day and the course is really hard here in Las Vegas. The bike was really hilly and the run was on the golf course around here so there were steep uphills and downhills, off camber, lots of twists and turns so that made it really hard to run fast and feel comfortable.

“Obviously, I’m happy with how I executed the race and it’s great to be on the podium, these races are super competitive and any time you can get on the podium is great.

There were plenty of eyes on Duffy in Vegas with onlookers keen to see the effect of three weeks of training since Ibiza and she stepped up hugely on that effort, with a month now between this effort and the T100 Series final in Dubai on November 16.

“Overall, it was a better performance than I had in Ibiza,” Duffy said.

“With these races, stepping up in distance, and with all the time I had off training with my injury, it just takes time to get bet back to full fitness and learn a new distance so hopefully I can have some more improvements in Dubai in four weeks’ time.

“Then, I’ll see where that sets me up for next year, racing over this distance. Las Vegas was certainly a fun event and Dubai will be my final race for the year, so I’m looking forward to that and then looking forward to a little bit of a rest.”

Duffy made her usual strong start in the swim and knows it is the bike leg in which she needs to make further gains.

“From the start it was really tough,” Duffy said. “Taylor [Spivey] took off like a bullet in the swim and I thought, ‘Oh gosh, I’m back in a short-course race’ but then I gathered myself and found some good feet to sit on.

“Then the bike, that’s the biggest area I need to improve, but I’m getting stronger and more comfortable on the TT bike.”

As for the one-minute drafting penalty, Duffy felt she was a little unlucky to have been penalised.

“This course was certainly better for me today but I frustratingly got a penalty,” she said.

“It’s one of those things, you go into a corner fast and then you come out of it and you are in the red and you try to back off and the ref thinks you are doing something you shouldn’t be, but a few of us got penalties.

“For me it’s a learning experience as part of racing is being able to control that dynamic. I got out of the penalty tent still in contention and I just tried to gather myself for the last 15 to 20km.”

It is clear Duffy is gaining confidence over the longer distance, and the desire to get closer to Knibb seems to be burning away.

“I definitely felt better out there and definitely felt more confident on the bike in the first part of the race,” Duffy said.

“I just went with the race as it came. I still have a lot to improve on and hopefully I can ride a lot better. This is my second one and each one I wanted to get a little better.

“There are a few really good women not here so I lucked out there and bagged a podium today, but a podium’s a podium and I am happy with that.

“As for getting closer to Taylor, I don’t know. You’ve got to ride a lot faster and then you’ve got to run pretty quick, too.”