Kiwi Andrea Hewitt has lambasted her dreadful start to the swim leg after finishing 13th in the Commonwealth Games women's triathlon.

None of New Zealand's trio of triathletes managed a top-five Gold Coast finish, with Nicole van der Kaay the best of the bunch in seventh.

Van der Kaay was one minute and 41 seconds behind winner Flora Duffy of Bermuda, while compatriot Rebecca Spence came in two minutes and 22 seconds behind in 10th and Hewitt was 13th.

Despite being considered a gold-medal chance, Hewitt finished three minutes and 58 seconds behind Duffy, who won with a time of 56:50.

Hewitt struggled early in the water, failing to stay with the pack for the 750m swim and beginning the 20km cycling leg 15th.

It was a place from which she simply couldn't recover.

"I just got swum on top of again and again. I thought I'd be able to swim with the group today but I missed that and when I got isolated on the bike, it was really tough and I kept losing time," Hewitt said.

"Really it was just the swim that messed my race up today.

"After that, I couldn't catch up."

In reality, none of the Kiwis ever appeared likely to nab a medal.

Spence, van der Kaay and Hewitt were all more than 40 seconds off the pace at the end of the swim, led by Jessica Learmonth and Duffy.

The 29-year-old Spence came closest, sitting fourth during parts of the bike leg, but fell off the pace in the back half of the race.

Young-gun van der Kaay also hung in before dropping back in the 5km run.

Englishwoman Learmonth ultimately finished second, 43 seconds off Duffy, while Canadian Joanna Brown was another five seconds behind in third.

Hewitt's poor run comes off a recent bomb at her home International Triathlon World Cup meet in New Plymouth, where she came ninth.

The 36-year-old admitted falling short of her own expectations but lauded 22-year-old van der Kaay for a composed effort on the big stage.

"It's exciting for the future of triathlon," she said.