Bermuda’s Dame Flora Duffy and Erica Hawley fought gallantly in the women's individual triathlon but could only manage fifth and 41st, respectively, on the Pont Alexandre III on Wednesday.

Duffy, who topped the event at the Tokyo 2020 Games, failed to defend her crown but delivered an outstanding performance nonetheless. She stopped the clock in 1:56:12 for fifth, as Frenchwoman Cassandre Beaugrand won gold in 1:54:55.

Duffy, 36, demonstrated her prowess in the swim section, leading the group while skilfully navigating the currents. She was the first to switch to the bike, keeping a steady lead until the 40.0km mark, when she dropped to fifth. Despite her efforts during the run section, Duffy, who boasts the historic feat of being Bermuda's first Olympic champion, couldn't improve her position.

Hawley, in her first senior Olympics, also delivered a commendable performance. She slipped to 41st at the end in 2:02:55 after initially being up with the top 30 competitors at the swim segment.

However, the 26-year-old didn't have the most efficient execution in the bike segment and eventually fell further behind the pack.

Meanwhile, Caribbean men Matthew Wright of Barbados and another Bermudan, Tyler Smith, performed exceptionally in the men's event but also found the going tough as they finished 34th and 48th, respectively.

Wright, 32, making his Olympic debut, had ambitions of a possible top-20 finish but left it too late at the finish as he progressed from 42nd at the start to 34th. He completed the gruelling three-discipline event in 1:49:18.

Smith, 25, also a first-time Olympian, was up with the top 30 early, but lacked the endurance at the end as he finished 48th in 1:51:59.

Great Britain's Alex Yee won gold in 1:43:33.

Matthew Wright’s career can be likened to fine wine, given the fact that it got better with age. In fact, if the current upward trajectory of the triathlete’s career is anything to go by, then his best is still yet to come.

Having started from the beaches of Barbados, Wright is now set to grace the grand stage of the Paris Olympic Games, and this remarkable feat serves as the highlight of a journey that has been nothing short of extraordinary.

Wright, who was introduced to triathlon in primary school, opted to focus fully on the sport that involves running, swimming, and cycling at age 16 and produced some credible performances across 19 international competitions between 2014 and 2016, including the 2014 Commonwealth Games. His best placement during that period came at the 2015 Bridgetown CAMTRI Sprint Triathlon American Cup, where he was fourth.

However, that period was not without its challenges, as Wright faced numerous setbacks, including serious injuries that threatened to derail his dreams and almost forced him to call it quits in his early 20s.

“I had some pretty good highs, but faced some extremely tough times as well, particularly with injuries. I've had bad bike crashes, broken bones, and torn ligaments. My first ever World Junior Championships I qualified for, I tore a ligament one month before in my knee. So I missed that, and I've just been up and down all around with so many injuries in my 20s that I felt like I was never able to get a full season out. That was really, really hard because I had my heart broken so many times due to it,” Wright told Sportsmax.TV from the Barbados team base in France.

Matthew Wright (second left) shares a photo opportunity with his Barbados teammates ahead of the Paris Games opening ceremony.

He continued: “I almost gave up the sport multiple times. I remember the 2012 London Olympics; I didn't watch anything, any sports. I was just at home; I was properly depressed and I was going to fully give up the sport. Fortunately, I had to go back to university, where my training group was, and I met this amazing physio at the time, and he got me back on track, and I qualified for my first Commonwealth Games. But then I suffered multiple injuries again since then, the biggest one being when I was trying to qualify for Tokyo in 2020 in February, and I ended up getting a metatarsal stress fracture.

“That meant the Olympic Games was going to be out of the question because I wasn't going to be able to do the needed qualifying races and I remember my coach saying, just go home, recover, refresh, and come back to Cardiff and we can get back training. But at that point, my fire completely went out because I was in my late twenties and I'd failed yet again to qualify for the Olympic Games. So I felt like I hadn't reached my potential; my body had given up on me again, and at that point, I really thought I was going to give up.”

Though the extensive rehabilitation and time away from training and competition tested Wright’s resolve, he found out in the most astonishing way that in the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity, as it was during the Covid-19 period that he rekindled his passion for the triathlon.

“Covid-19 was kind of a blessing for me. The world stopped for four months, and I was able to have, like, a guilt-free break. There was no race to get ready for, the Olympics was cancelled, and I was able to just fully switch off and almost heal from what was 10 years of a bad pattern of injuries, illnesses and setbacks. It really, really helped, and that was the time when I met my now-fiancé, so my life really changed for the better in 2020,” Wright shared.