Great Britain's Alex Yee has missed out on a maiden world title in the final race of the World Triathlon Championship Series in Edmonton, Canada.
The Olympic silver medallist was marginally ahead in the standings heading into the event, leading Norway's Kristian Blummenfelt - his conquerer in Tokyo - by 39 points.
Yee found himself fatally behind during the bike leg, however, at one point trailing by around 90 seconds, and was unable to sufficiently claw himself back in contention on his strongest leg, the run.
A stunning transition for leg three did set the tone - and the 23-year-old progressively moved up the field over the course of the 10km, successively picking off opponent by opponent to halve the overall deficit.
Blummenfelt was a man on a mission, though, making his signature move in the final lap to force his way over the line in first with a time of 1:44:14, just a second ahead of Belgium's Marten van Riel, who claimed second in the 2021 standings.
In the end Yee moved up from 22nd to 11th, which enabled him to hold on to the final overall podium place for the 2021 season.
The athletes now have little time to rest, with the coronavirus pandemic meaning that the 2022 season starts in Hamburg in just a month's time.
World Triathlon Championship Series, Edmonton - Final Leaderboard
1. Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) - 01:44:14
2. Marten van Riel (BEL) - 01:44:14 (+0:01)
3. Leo Bergere (FRA) - 01:44:15 (+0:02)
4. Seth Rider (USA) - 01:44:23 (+0:10)
5. Adrien Briffod (SUI) - 01:44:23 (+0:11)
6. Dorian Coninx (FRA) - 01:44:26 (+0:13)
7. Tayler Reid (NZL) - 01:44:26 (+0:13)
8. Antonio Serrat Seoane (ESP) - 01:44:35 (+0:22)
9. Takumi Hojo (JPN) - 01:44:41 (+0:28)
10. Vincent Luis (FRA) - 01:44:52 (+0:39)
11. Alex Yee (GBR) - 01:44:53 (+0:40)
Neil Wilkes
