Dame Flora Duffy will have a busy start to November after finally being handed the opportunity to fulfil her aspirations of competing at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship with a wild card entry.

Duffy’s hopes of qualifying for the event St George, Utah, on October 28, looked to have been cruelly dashed after being unable to race at the Subaru Ironman 70.3 Mont-Tremblant in June, due to her bike not arriving in Canada.

The world and Olympic champion, who withdrew from the World Triathlon Sprint and Relay Championships Montreal in favour of competing in Mont-Tremblant, was facing her last opportunity to clinch one of three final qualifying slots on offer for showpiece final.

However, the 34-year-old has now been handed a lifeline after accepting a wild card invitation to take to the start line

“St George bound!” Duffy wrote on Facebook. “Officially received an invitation from Ironman as a wild card. Thank you for the opportunity @ironmantri – I really appreciate it and will do my best to add to the excitement of the women’s race.

“Truth is, I have been trying to get to the 70.3 Worlds for a few years now. I am really thrilled to get to start finally.”

Competing at the 70.3 Worlds has proven challenging for Duffy, who missed events in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in 2018 and Nice, France, in 2019 due to injury.

Duffy qualified for the 2020 event in New Zealand, only to see it cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. She was also eligible to compete last year in St George, Utah, but opted out after winning gold at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

The race is just nine days before the World Triathlon Championship Series returns to Bermuda on November 5 and 6.

It will be the first time that Duffy has had to race in front of a home crowd as reigning Olympic champion after she was denied a memorable homecoming in October of last year, after the cancellation of the World Triathlon Sprint and Relay Championships, owing to a surge in active Covid-19 cases