Dame Flora Duffy admitted she endured a learning experience in a spirited display to finish fifth on her Ironman 70.3 World Championships debut in St George, Utah, this afternoon.

On a day that belonged firmly to the American Taylor Knibb, who blitzed the field to be crowned the new world champion — finishing more than five minutes clear of Canadian Paula Findlay — Duffy was in contention for a medal before agonisingly fading away in the closing stages of the run.

She was ultimately caught and passed by British duo Emma Pallant-Browne, who took third, and defending champion Lucy Charles-Barclay as Duffy, an underdog among the stellar pro women’s field of middle-distance specialists, crossed the line in a combined time of 4:13:33, slightly more than ten minutes adrift of Knibb.

“I’m thrilled just to be here,” said Duffy, who accepted a wild card for the event, after her attempt to qualify at the Subaru Ironman 70.3 Mont-Tremblant in June, was dashed because of her bike not arriving in Canada. “These women were incredible and I have so much respect for them.

“Coming into this, I had only raced in one 70.3 and that was in January 2020 [when she won in South Africa] before Covid, so it feels like a lifetime ago.

“I was very grateful to the have the opportunity to race here. It’s been a big learning experience for me coming from short-course, which I’ve raced my entire career.

“I’m 35 now so it’s a little unusual to be this late in my career and just entering some long-course. However, it was really important, off the back of the Olympics, to try something new and put myself in an environment that I’m not comfortable in and learn some new skills.

“The thing I didn’t particularly enjoy was towards the end of the run I don’t know what happened, whether it was my back or my diaphragm, but I literally thought I was going to fold in half through a spasm. It was the strangest experience I’ve ever had.

“It’s been a humbling experience but overall I was pretty happy with my race; it was nice to do something completely different.”

Duffy was fourth out of the water from the 1.2-mile swim in 24min 21sec, 25 seconds adrift the lead pack of Charles-Barclay, Lottie Wilms and Knibb, as they entered the first transition.

By the five-mile mark of the 56-mile bike course, Duffy had worked her way up to second and chasing Knibb, who had built a 45-second lead over her rivals.

However, Knibb, who finished third last year, found another gear through the next 15 miles, as her advantage grew to more than 2½ minutes. Duffy was in a chase pack of five alongside India Lee, Charles-Barclay, Findlay and Holly Lawrence.

At the halfway point of the bike, that chase group had been reduced to three, with Lee was forced to serve an immediate five-minute penalty for a drafting violation, while Lawrence dropped off the wheels of the remaining pack, which was led by Duffy.

Despite working in unison with Charles-Barclay and Findlay, the trio continued to lose further ground to Knibb, whose advantage surpassed the five-minute mark with ten miles remaining.

With the threat of an insurmountable gap forming, Findlay opted to make a break, with the Bermudian immediately responding to follow suit, as Charles-Barclay looked to be struggling to stay in tow. In the closing stages, Charles-Barclay responded superbly to rejoin the chase pack and they entered the second transition together, having clocked 2hr 21min 29sec.

Having already begun to attack the run course from the outset, Knibb’s lead had increased to slightly less than seven minutes by the time the chasing trio left the transition together, with Charles-Barclay attempting to force an early break from Duffy and Findlay.

By the five-mile split mark, there was still no separating the chase pack, who despite their best efforts continued to fall farther adrift of the majestic Knibb, now incredibly clocking a faster run pace than any of her rivals.

With the title seemingly all but secured by the 24-year-old, attention turned to the battle for the remaining podium places, as Findlay and Duffy began to edge away from Charles-Barclay, whose legs looked to be showing the fatigue of her efforts to finish second in the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, just three weeks ago.

At the ten-mile mark, Findlay had put 40 seconds between herself and Duffy, in third, who in turn held a 30-second lead over Charles-Barclay. Meanwhile, some seven minutes farther up the road, Knibb showed no signs of slowing up.

While Findlay continued to put more ground between herself and Duffy, the Bermudian began to fade, allowing not only a rejuvenated Charles-Barclay to pass her, but also Pallant-Browne. And with them went hopes of a medal.

Having put in a devastating performance, Knibb was able to canter down the finishing carpet in 4:03:20, soaking in the adulation of the crowd to be crowned the new world champion.

Findlay crossed the line some 5½ minutes later for second place, while the battle for the final podium place hotted up. Ultimately, it was the fast-finishing Pallant-Browne who prevailed for third.

Duffy, who completed 13.1-mile run in 1:25:04, will now turn her attention to resuming her quest for a record fourth world title when the World Triathlon Championship Series returns to Bermuda in a week.