The Wanaka athlete finished 30th in the Ironman world championships in Kona, Hawaii, having led early on the bike.
A puncture meant he dropped well back in the pack and a further five-minute penalty led to him finishing in a time of 8hr 50min 05sec, 49 minutes behind record-breaking German winner Patrick Lange.
Racing what is considered one of the world’s toughest triathlons for the first time, Currie said everything went wrong about 40km into the bike.‘‘I was riding really well. My power was awesome and I didn’t really feel like I was working beyond myself.
"I was exactly where I wanted to be and then I got a flat tyre.
"It maybe took a couple of minutes to get the support guys there and change a wheel over.
"Then I was cruising up the road trying to jump back on the back of the bunch, thinking that maybe not all is lost and I can still get myself back in the top 10.
"Then a marshal went past and held up a sign saying that I had a penalty."
He had begun with an outstanding swim, completing the 3.8km course in 48min 41sec, before leading 40km into the 180km bike.
However, he was left chasing the race after the puncture and in his attempt to regain ground, was handed a penalty for staying in the draft zone of another cyclist for longer than the allowed 25 seconds.
He kept battling hard throughout the marathon run to finish 30th out of the 54 athletes in action.
"It’s not what I wanted and it’s probably a harder pill to swallow because it wasn’t my physical ability in the end which let me down," he said.
"I had such a good start and ... I was feeling really good, then there was a run of bad luck — but that’s racing, I guess."
Currie will now race the off-road XTERRA World Championships in Maui, Hawaii, in two weeks’ time.
Lange finished in 8hr 1min 39sec to smash the previous course record by more than two minutes.
He trailed Canada’s Lionel Sanders with 5km to go, before surging past him through to the end of the run.
