Another big race and another big-name absentee with the sad news that Flora Duffy will miss IRONMAN 70.3 Chattanooga on Sunday.

Duffy carried all before her in short-course combat in 2021, claiming Olympic gold in Tokyo and a WTCS title. Seeing her step up to middle distance is an intriguing thought, with a possible shot at the IRONMAN 70.3 World title on the horizon in October.

The road to St George in five months’ time though hit a bump in the road on Saturday when Duffy was forced to give up on her bid to race in Chattanooga after testing positive for COVID.

Race over, before it started

Writing in an Instagram post, she said: “Well my race is over before it even started. Have been feeling slightly under the weather the last couple of days and decided I should do a Covid test to rule that out. Two positive tests later… Really sad. I was looking forward to racing over the 70.3 distance. I’ve put so much work into the TT bike in recent months. The road to St George just became a little tougher!”

If there is an upside here, it’s that Flora says her symptoms so far are not particularly worrying. We hope that continues to be the case.

Duffy symptoms are mild

“She revealed: “I am doing ok. My symptoms are mild but my team and I decided it was not worth risking medium / long term affects.

“Good luck to everyone racing tomorrow. I did enjoy the small pre ride on the course yesterday – a fun rolling ride! Next time Chattanooga.”

Duffy’s withdrawal is further evidence of the toll COVID continues to take on elite triathlon.

That recent IRONMAN World Championship in St George saw a host of big names forced out before race day, with Laura Philipp, Joe Skipper and Javier Gomez all being ruled out after contracting COVID.