Josiah Middaugh of the U.S. ended 3-time XTERRA World Champion Ruben Ruzafa’s 15-race winning streak and broke through to an XTERRA World Championship in his 15th attempt.
“This was just the result of many years of hard sessions and hard work and it was amazing to see it all come together on a special day, with my whole family here to share in it,” said Middaugh.
Flora Duffy of Bermuda won her 2nd straight XTERRA World title by a 4:59 margin over 2-time XTERRA World Champion Lesley Paterson of Great Britain on the rugged Kapalua course in northwest Maui.
“Eventually I won by over 4 minutes which made it look easy – but it was not the case – Lesley is in very good form,” said Duffy. “She raced super well."
Men
Middaugh, seven times the top American finisher at Maui, came close twice before - second place XTERRA World Championship finisher to Javier Gomez in 2012, and runner-up to Ruzafa last year. This year, Middaugh stayed within 1:45 of Ruzafa after the former professional cyclist’s usual dominating mountain bike leg, charged past the Spaniard at mile 3 of the trail run, and cinched the victory with a 2nd-best 41:59 run that brought him to the line in 2:35:32. This gave him a 2:59 margin over Braden Currie of New Zealand and 5:09 over 3rd-place finisher Ruzafa.
Middaugh said an improved swim set in motion the edge he needed to take down Ruzafa. “I was able to get out of the water with Ruben this year,” said Middaugh. “Last year he had 90 seconds on me and I think he was surprised to see me start with him. Maybe he felt he had to work a little harder on the bike – we were going back and forth on the first stages of the bike.”
Middaugh said it was never easy. “I had crashes at Mile 4 and again at Mile 6 – nothing serious and I popped right back up and lost just 20 seconds each time. But I also damaged my rear derailleur in one crash and I could not access my higher gears on the fast downhill sections. I just went into a tuck on the downhills and hoped I was fast enough.”
At mile 12 of the bike, Ruzafa surged away and increased his lead. “He really excelled the last 5 miles of bike on the more technical single track,” said Middaugh. “He really wailed that section and put a minute on me in the last 5 miles before T2.”
Middaugh caught Ruzafa at mile 3 of the run. “The terrain was the steepest part of the course going all uphill,” said Middaugh. “He looked like he was suffering quite a bit on the run and he did not put up a fight. I think he possibly worked really hard, lost energy on the bike, and paid for it on the run.”
Ruzafa, who won this race in 2008, 2013 and 2014, and who had a 15-race XTERRA winning streak going into this contest, faded from the lead in the sweltering heat on the hilly run with a 48:51 split that also let Currie, on his way to a 4th-best 44:12 run, into the silver medal position.
Up and coming young star Mauricio Mendez of Mexico blazed home with a race-best 40:51 trail run split to take 4th, 14 seconds behind Ruzafa. Courtney Atkinson, an Australian Olympian who fairly recently took up off road triathlon, closed with a 3rd-best 42:39 trail run to finish 5th, 1:33 behind Mendez.
Women
Flora Duffy, who recently rose in prominence on the ITU’s elite World Triathlon Series circuit, continued her recent dominance of the XTERRA sphere with her 2nd straight XTERRA World Championship victory on the rugged and challenging Kapalua course in Maui.
Duffy led the women out of T2, followed by Christine Jeffrey of Canada, Jacqui Slack of Great Britain, Emma Garrard of the U.S., and Fabiola Corona of Mexico. Back on form after a long battle with Lyme disease and other ailments, two-time XTERRA World Champion Lesley Paterson of Great Britain and multiple XTERRA World Champion Julie Dibens of Great Britain were in the chase on the first miles of the mountain bike segment.
At mile 6 Duffy had a 2:10 lead on Paterson, 5 minutes on Garrard, 6 minutes on Slack, 6:30 on Carina Wasle of Austria, and 6:40 on Liz Orchard of New Zealand.
It looked easy on the outside, but Duffy said there were some difficult moments to overcome. “Every XTERRA race, nothing goes perfectly planned,” said Duffy. “There are always hiccups. This time I had a few interesting little crashes. No head over heels crashes this time. I did not hit hard, just slide outs where it kind of hurts and I lost momentum. Lesley [Paterson] charged hard behind me and all the all splits I got she was inching closer and closer. It was nerve wracking. She is a phenomenal athlete and super strong on the bike and can come from behind on the run – just as she passed me for second place in the final run on the beach here in 2013.”
Putting up a fight characteristic of her 2011 and 2012 form, Paterson sliced Duffy’s lead to 1:35 within a mile of T2, raising hopes for an upset. But after a 3rd-best 49:36 trail run that gave up 3:25 to Duffy’s 2nd-best 46:23, Paterson had to settle for the runner-up position, 4:59 back of the winner. Garrard, who closed with a women’s-fastest 46:09 run, took 3rd place, her best-ever finish at Maui and 4:12 back of Paterson.
20th XTERRA World Championship
Kapalua, Maui
November 1, 2015
S 1.5k / B 30k / R 10k
Results
Men
1. Josiah Middaugh (USA) 2:35:32
2. Braden Currie (NZL) 2:38:31
3. Ruben Ruzafa (ESP) 2:40:41
4. Mauricio Mendez (MEX) 2:40:55
5. Courtney Atkinson (AUS) 2:42:28
6. Francisco Serrano (MEX) 2:42:58
7. Yeray Luxem (BEL) 2:44:46
8. Rom Akerson (CRC) 2:45:08
9. Nicolas Fernandez (FRA) 2:46:52
10. Ben Hoffman (USA) 2:49:57
Women
1. Flora Duffy (BER) 2:54:18
2. Lesley Paterson (GBR) 2:59:17
3. Emma Garrard (USA) 3:03:29
4. Myriam Guillot Boisset (FRA) 3:07:28
5. Elizabeth Orchard (NZL) 3:09:58
6. Carina Wasle (AUT) 3:11:24
7. Helena Erbenova (CZE) 3:17:13
8. Jacqui Slack (GBR) 3:18:05
9. Renata Bucher (SUI) 3:19:35
10. Susan Sloan (RSA) 3:20:45
La finale des championnats du monde de  du circuit , s'est déroulé ce dimanche et comme chaque année depuis sa création sur l'île de  à . Ce championnat privé et mondialement connu comme le précurseur des compétitions de cross triathlon, est à cette pratique ce qu'est l' au triathlon originel. Les tenants du titres l'Espagnol  et la Bermudienne  ont remis leur titre respectif en jeux, tout en faisant office de grands favoris. L'un et l'autre ayant déjà remporté cette année, le championnat du monde officiel organisé par la .

L'Américain  pour sa 7 participation à cette finale après avoir finit second en 2012 et 2014, remporte son premier titre de champion du monde. Au terme d'une course qui se déroule dans une chaleur étouffante, il devance l'Espagnol Rubén Ruzafa triple champion du monde et tenant du titre. La partie natation voit Ruzafa et Middaugh sortir en 12 et 13 position avec près de 3 minutes de retard sur la tête de course, mais Ruzafa grand spécialiste du  comble l'écart rapidement et reprend la tête. l’Américain reste au contact et ne permet pas au tenant du titre de créer des écarts significatif. C'est dans la partie , que le futur vainqueur porte son attaque et dépose Ruzafa au 10 kilomètres, il prend la tête de course qu'il ne lâche plus jusqu'au titre final. Josiah Middaugh remporte cette victoire en 2 heures 35 minutes et 52 secondes devançant le jeune Néo-Zéolandais Braden Currie qui réussit à prendre la seconde place dans la course à pied également au tenant du titre, qui finit l'édition 2015 sur la troisième marche du podium.  Josiah Middaugh met un terme à 15 années sans titre pour les triathlètes américains, ce championnat n'ayant pas été remporté par eux, depuis l'an 2000.

Le premier Français Nicolas Fernandez entre dans le « Top 10 », à la 9 place en 2 heures 46 minutes et 52 secondes.

===Flora Duffy intouchable ===
alt=World Triathlon Series Tour 2015 - Edmonton.jpg

La Bermudienne , championne en titre ne laisse pas beaucoup de chance à ses adversaires de remporter le titre. Faisant état d'une grande forme la championne du monde de  (ITU) en 2015, vainqueur d'étape et 7 classement général des  (WTS), remporte son second titre consécutif. Auteure d'une partie natation ou elle nage avec le peloton de tête constitué d'hommes, elle sort en première position de l'eau, suivie par un groupe de cinq triathlètes féminines comprenant notamment en 5 position, la championne du monde 2011 - 2012, l’Écossaise . Cette dernière remonte à la seconde position sur la partie VTT et réduit son écart à deux minutes. Sur la partie trail de la compétition dont le parcours est très technique, Flora Duffy ne permet pas à ses adversaires de combler l’écart de 2 minutes qu'elle détient à la deuxième . Par une fin de course au rythme soutenue, elle agrandit son avance et remporte son second titre mondial sur XTerra en 2 heures 54 minutes et 18 secondes. Lesley Paterson finit seconde avec 5 minutes de retard, l'Américaine Emma Garrard prend la troisième place du podium.

La Française Myriam Guillot-Boisset prend pour sa part, une belle 4 place du classement féminin.