The inconsistent and inexplicable form that has plagued triathlete Flora Duffy over the last year spilled over to the Olympics yesterday.

Another 'DNF' added to the two suffered in four previous races in the last few months wouldn't normally have affected the young athlete whose best years are still to come.

But this was the Beijing Games and her failure to finish again left the 20-year-old in tears.

While Duffy had repeatedly insisted she would begin the event with few expectations, after months of rigorous training she had, at least, hoped to put in a 'solid' performance.

Instead yesterday, two years after experiencing the exhilarating high of an unexpected eighth place at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, she had to deal with the cruel low of bringing up the rear of a 56-strong field.

After a reasonable swim from which she emerged in 41st place, 37 seconds behind the leaders, the Bermudian's race progressively got worse.

Struggling on the bike, she finished the first of six laps of the 40-kilometre course with two other riders at the back of the pack, now three minutes adrift.

Falling further and further behind, despite their efforts to work together, that trio failed to make up ground and by the end of the penultimate lap, they were hauled off the course by race officials.

Olympic triathlon rules state that once a rider is lapped, they have to withdraw. In this case, the back five weren't exactly lapped but the leaders had already started the second lap of the run, meaning the remaining riders would not be allowed into the transition area.

She told The Royal Gazette>/I>: "I don't know what to say. I gave it my best and obviously my best wasn't good enough. As you can see, I'm disappointed not to have finished.

"It just didn't feel good today. I knew as soon as I dived into the water ... I just didn't have that spark. It sucks because this is the Olympics but there's not much you can do. Some days you're on, and others it's just not there.

"It's difficult when you're tapering to get it spot-on because you go through a period when you're not feeling very good and then your body starts to pick up. But obviously that didn't happen."

See tomorrow's Royal Gazette for the full story