Kent Richardson, the evergreen Bermuda triathlete, has hailed Flora Duffy’s Xterra World Championships triumph as a defining moment for Bermuda sport.

Duffy, 27, blitzed the high-class field in Maui, Hawaii, on Sunday, in an overall time of 2hr 48min to fulfil her lifelong ambition of being the best in the globe.

In doing so, she became the Island’s first-ever professional triathlon world champion and Richardson was personally on hand to congratulate her, having finished eighth out of 36 in the men’s 55-59 age group in 3:40:22.

“For years Bermuda’s been knocking on the door,” he said after clocking splits of 29:57, 2:10:22 and 55:41 in the 1.5 kilometre swim, 30.4km bike and 9.5km trail run course.

“We’ve had a lot of people at different courses and Ironman and so on... but it’s long, long overdue.

“We don’t have a lot of world champions so this is big, big, big time for Bermuda. Flora’s been right there on the cusp for years knocking on the door but this Xterra, she’s just crushing everybody.

“I saw Flora when she was in Iron Kids in Bermuda and I’ve travelled to Beijing, Budapest, Hungary, Hamburg... all around the world with her and it’s nice to see her finally break through.”

The other Bermudian in action in Maui was Julia Hawley, who just missed out on a podium place in the women’s 50-54 age group.

She finished fourth in an overall time of 3:57:43, with splits of 31:39, 2:22:36, 58:13, and described the race as “an awesome day for Bermuda”.

Meanwhile, Duffy, the former Warwick Academy student, was able to reflect on an iron-willed performance, having to recover from a nasty bike crash to enter her place in Bermuda’s sporting history books.

“The swim was tough because it was choppy out there,” she said. “Luckily I’m a strong swimmer and my choppy stroke works in that condition.

“Up on the bike it was super hard, I mean this is a brutal course in the best conditions. I crashed really hard seven miles in and just tried to forget about that. I had a mechanical and that’s just part of the race and you have to stay calm and keep pedalling because it’s a really long race. There’s plenty of time to make up time.”

She added: “I was really shaken [after the crash].

“This was the first time I had crashed that hard in a race and for it to happen in the world champs messes with your head. You really just have to take a deep breath and calm down, realise that these things happen in mountain biking and just get back on your bike.

“I think of it in the perspective that the girls behind you are having their own issues. No one is having a perfect race out there because it’s so brutal, just stay calm and keep pedalling.”

Duffy has won the Xterra US Series, the Asia-Pacific Championships and the South African Championships in a superb off-road season. She also finished eighth in the triathlon road race at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

The two-time Olympian said that she knew she had the world title in her hands when she hit the beach section of the run — a stretch she struggled with when finishing third on her race debut last year.

“I kept getting all these time splits,” she said.

“At one point I heard four minutes then five, then 3:15, but honestly on the run I felt super strong, but of course the memories of last year were in my head where I totally cracked on that beach.

“So when I hit that beach and I felt really good, I was like, ‘alright!’”

Duffy’s display also drew heartfelt praise from her nearest challenger, Barbara Riveros, of Chile, who finished 2:05 behind.

“I’m very, very proud of Flora,” Riveros said.

“I’m happy for her for getting the title for her country — she’s a role model.

“She’s very strong and I knew she was the big contender here and she more than proved that.”