
Dame Flora Duffy focused on double glory in triathlon
The 34-year-old won gold on the Gold Coast before following it up with the Olympic title.
Bermuda's Dame Flora Duffy is not planning a party if she strikes gold in the women's triathlon at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Duffy, a world, Olympic and Commonwealth champion, has vowed to immediately turn her attention to the mixed relay upon the completion of the women's event.
The 34-year-old will partner Erica Hawley, Tyler Smith and Tyler Butterfield, who will compete in his final Commonwealth Games triathlon having also been in the field when triathlon made its Commonwealth Games debut at Manchester in 2002, as well as in Glasgow in 2014 and the Gold Coast in 2018.
Butterfield also took part in the cycling at Melbourne in 2006 and the 39-year-old hopes to bow out of the sport with a bang in Birmingham.
Duffy, who won gold at the Commonwealths in 2018 on the Gold Coast before following it up with the Olympic title at Tokyo 2020, wants to be on top form for retiring team-mate Butterfield in the mixed team relay just two days after her individual event.
"It's Tyler’s final race. I've got him into good shape, and he is excited," Duffy said. "If I win on Friday there will be no big celebrations. I have to recover for the relay leg because I want to give it all for the team.
"Bermuda is a small island with 64,000 people so the fact we have four athletes who can compete at Commonwealth Games level is a miracle."
But before all of that Duffy has a difficult task ahead of her to defend her crown in an anticipated tight battle with Georgia Taylor-Brown of England.
At the World Triathlon Championship Series in Hamburg earlier this month, Duffy found herself hit with the first penalty of her illustrious career after leaving her swimming goggles outside the transition box.
She managed to overcome that problem with gold on that occasion but she realises such an error cannot be repeated at Sutton Park.
"It was a misstep from me," Duffy said. "If I were to have a (10 second) penalty like that in Birmingham, it would be impossible to win. Or really tough. Georgia is way too strong for me to make those silly mistakes.
"I feel excited to race. I am fitter than I thought I would be as I've had Covid twice and struggled with fatigue coming off the Olympics.
"I'm looking forward to a really great race with Georgia. We went gold and silver at Tokyo a year ago and here we are again."
Visually-impaired Dave Ellis of England has won seven of eight competitions since October 2019 and he lost his perfect record over that span at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games when a broken bike chain prevented him from finishing.
"I'm feeling strong physically and mentally," Ellis said. "It could be the only chance I get to perform in the Commonwealth Games and it could be my only opportunity to win a gold medal."