A knee injury was the only thing stopping Flora Duffy giving Evan Naude a run for the overall crown in yesterday?s National Sprint Triathlon Championships at Clearwater.

The teenage sensation was comfortably out of the 750-metre swim in first place in the overall individual competition ? only two Olympic swimmers competing in the team event beat her ? and was close to Naude after the 20 kilometres on the bike.

But trouble with her right knee that kept her out of the British Junior Championships last month ? where she would have been among the favourites ? also kept her from claiming the ladies? crown here.

Although she pushed herself in the first two legs, she had no intention of causing more damage ahead of a season that culminates in the World Championships in September and pulled out before the 5K run.

By this stage both Naude and Kris Hedges had caught her on the bike ? although only in the final four kilometres ? and the two went head to head on the road in the final leg.

Naude finished just ahead on the cycle section of the course but Hedges burst out of the transition first only to be caught and overtaken in Naude?s strongest discipline.

In the end, the defending champion?s margin of victory was just over two minutes, finishing in sweltering conditions in an unofficial time of one hour, four minutes and 49 seconds.

?It took me a few days to recover from May 24 ? I was a lot more sore than I thought I?d be,? said Naude, completing most of his press interview before rival Hedges even finished.

?But I was feeling pretty good today. I like it when it?s hot, so these conditions are fine for me.?

Evan?s twin brother Riaan, who completed an accounting exam on Saturday, has been concentrating on studying in recent months and hasn?t been putting in the training, although Evan hopes he will again now.

?I have always enjoyed competing with my brother, we push each other and I hope he comes back and trains hard again,? continued Evan.

?It would be nice if next year we could push the Marshall brothers at May 24 ? I ran it for the first time this year and I thought it was an incredible race with superb support. It would be nice if we could push ourselves and run together next time.?

In the absence of his brother, there was another potential rival crossing the finish line first this year and when asked if the threat of Duffy had spurred him on, he laughed and answered in the affirmative.

?There would certainly be no shame in being beaten by a Commonwealth Games athlete like Flora,? he admitted.

?But every athlete has a bit of an ego so I wouldn?t have wanted to have been beaten by her.

?She is a great swimmer and I knew she?d be ahead (she was by nearly four minutes) which meant catching her on the bike.

?She was ahead most of the way but I caught her in the final lap. It?s a shame she didn?t stay in the competition because she would have finished pretty near the front.?

Duffy, however, doesn?t think she is ready to eclipse the triathlon men ? just yet.

?Hopefully in a few years I will be able to win overall, but I don?t think I am quite there at the moment,? said Duffy, who remained upbeat about her triathlon future despite the short-term injury trouble.

?I thought I might be ahead after the swim ? I was really happy with my swim today ? but it was just a case of hanging on for as long as I could on the bike.

?I think he (Naude) is still ahead of me on the bike and in the run but they are things I am working on.?

And as for the injury that limited her to just two thirds of the event?

?It?s nothing too serious, so I am still able to swim and pretty much give it everything on the bike,? she continued.

?It just causes problems on the run. I wanted to do the swim and bike and the national juniors but my coach said I should only enter if I am fully fit.

?I probably could have run today, but there is no point in pushing it too hard at the moment ? there are a lot of important races coming up.?

Duffy is heading back to the UK to finish her ?A? levels and then will return to training hard for the World Championships in early September. Her plan is to then put university on hold, instead staying on at her current school to complete a further education course while working hard with her current coach towards the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

With Duffy failing to finish and fellow Commonwealth Games competitor Karen Smith absent through injury, the women?s event yesterday was claimed by Karen Bordage, the May 24 runner-up and sub three-hour marathon runner.