Flora Duffy, the Bermuda triathlete, stormed to a scintillating victory in the Xterra World Championships in Maui, Hawaii, to turn her childhood dreams into reality.

Since experiencing her maiden Iron Kids triathlon for her first club, Tri Heads, aged eight, Duffy has harboured hopes of one day being able to call herself the best in the business.

It has been a near 20-year journey full of vertiginous highs and crushing lows, but yesterday Duffy could bask in the knowledge that she had finally achieved her goal after becoming Bermuda’s first triathlon world champion.

She completed the 1.5-kilometre rough water swim, 30.4-kilometre mountain bike and 9.5-kilometre trail run through pineapple fields and forests in a time of 2hr 48min.

“[The win] was my goal for 2014 and to achieve it is pretty special,” said Duffy, who was adorned with the traditional Hawaiian headdress and garland after winning.

“I’ve always dreamed of being a world champion and to do that today is pretty cool.

“I knew it was going to be a tough day and I had to be at my best to cross the line first.

“I led for pretty much most of the race and didn’t really know where everyone else was. I was kind of racing blind and just pushing myself as hard as I could.”

That Duffy had to pick herself up after suffering a nasty bike crash made her accomplishment all the more impressive. “I crashed so hard, I literally don’t know how I got on my bike,” she said.

“It was a steep, gnarly descent, I hit a root awkwardly and just flew into the trees head first with my bike on top of me. I was lucky I fell into some soft bushes.”

An “over the moon” Charlie Duffy said that his daughter was relieved to have lived up to her billing as the pre-race favourite.

“I spoke to Flora on the phone shortly after the race and she said that she’d had quite a nasty crash,” he said.

“She ripped her suit and her body got bashed up a bit, but thank goodness the bike was rideable.”

He added: “Had she not won, I know she would have been really upset but she’s over the moon — we all are.”

Duffy’s rise in Xterra has been nothing short of meteoric. She started competing in the earthier off-road form of triathlon only last year, finishing third at the Championships 12 months ago.

Having enjoyed absolute dominance in the Xterra US series as well as winning the Asia-Pacific Championships and the South African Championships this season, Duffy was in no mood to relinquish her vice-like grip in the “Valley Isle”, leading virtually from start to finish.

The former Warwick Academy pupil was the second woman out of the water in 22:19, closely pursuing Nicky Samuels, of New Zealand, the defending champion.

Samuels, a former New Zealand cycling road race champion, had no answer to Duffy on the bike trail, though, with the 27-year-old blitzing ahead of her chief rival, opening up a 1min 45sec lead by the sixth mile.

Duffy, the fastest on the bike in 1:41:41, never looked back from that point on, with Samuels’s threat diminishing with each mile of the run as Barbara Riveros emerged as the only possible stumbling block on the Bermudian’s road to victory.

Riveros had the marginally faster run, but Duffy’s time of 42:56 was more than quick enough to ensure she crossed the finish line more than two minutes ahead of the Chilean.

Duffy, who has benefited from a tough winter training camp in South Africa, placed 24th overall, with Dan Hugo, her South African boyfriend, finishing fourth in 2:36:29.

Both Duffy and Hugo will compete in the New York Marathon next weekend.

Meanwhile, Kent Richardson and Julia Hawley, completed a fine day for Bermuda in Hawaii.

Richardson finished eighth out of 44 competitors in the men’s 55-59 age group in a time of 3:40:22, and Hawley just missed out on a podium finish, placing fourth out of 19 in the 50-54 women’s race in 03:57:43.