Flora Duffy has withdrawn from the Professional Triathletes Organisation 2020 Middle Distance World Championships at the Daytona International Speedway.

The two-times former world champion was set to compete in the event next month, which will see the world’s top triathletes competing for a $1 million prize purse — a first for the sport, after being handed a wild-card entry.

However, Duffy took to social media to confirm her withdrawal from the competition.

“New bike, new bars, new kit, new fit but no race. For a few reasons, I have decided to pull out of the PTO Championships in Daytona,” she said.

It will be the second successive event that the 33-year-old will miss after she also pulled out of the Valencia ITU Triathlon World Cup this month.

Duffy later explained that she had been suffering with a right knee problem since not long after her stunning triumph at the Arzachena World Cup event in Italy in October.

The injury was diagnosed as two cysts that were applying pressure and causing the pain, with an MRI suggesting a quick recovery period.

The setback will add further disappointment for Duffy at the conclusion of a season in which she claimed back-to-back World Cup gold medals in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic, and Arzachena.

Those triumphs followed a second-place finish in the stand-alone World Championship event in Hamburg, with her results earning her joint top spot in World Triathlon’s final rankings for 2020.