Flora Duffy, the Bermuda triathlete, admits her early performances this season have exceeded even her high expectations.

She continued her fine form at the weekend when she defended her Xterra Asia Pacific Championship title in New South Wales, Australia, with a comfortable win.

Duffy, 27, recorded an overall time of 2hr 26min 40sec after exiting the water first in 17:24 in the 1,500-metre swim, then completing the 30-kilometre bike ride in 1:34:27 before finishing the 10k run in 40:26.

It was Duffy’s tenth Xterra win in her last 11 outings in the global off-road triathlon series. The previous weekend she was fifth at the ITU World Cup triathlon on Australia’s Gold Coast.

Duffy admitted she is surprised by her performances so far and her world ranking of fifth.

“I’m very surprised with my World Cup Series performances,” Duffy said. “I knew I was in good form but my results exceeded my expectations.”

The two-times Olympian, who was crowned Bermuda’s Female Athlete of the Year for a fourth time last month, said she still had plenty of room for improvement, especially with her running.

“This past winter, I worked really hard on my running while in Stellenbosch [in the Western Cape of South Africa],” she said. “I have been working with a run specific coach, and running with a great bunch of speedy girls.

“I still need to run 45-60 seconds faster off the bike, but that will be a progression over the next year building into the Olympics.”

Duffy stormed to a scintillating victory in the Xterra World Championships in Maui, Hawaii, in October to turn her childhood dreams into reality. She insisted that the extra pressure of being the “one to beat” was not a problem for her.

“I have to admit that going into every Xterra as the favourite is getting a little old, but something I am coping with fine,” she said.

“You win the World Championships and you must get comfortable with always being the favourite; it’s nothing new and something that I am proud of.

Competing in both the World Cup Series and Xterra is a hefty workload, but Duffy credits it for keeping her mind fresh, believing the two series’ “go hand-in-hand”.

“I’m able to train specifically for WTS racing, and still race Xterra,” said Duffy, who considering competing in the Tokio Millennium Triathlon in Bermuda next month.

“It is a lot of racing, so I never rest up or taper for Xterras [unless it is the World Championships].

“I’ll race less Xterra next year (2016) but for now it is a good mix which keeps me happy. And a happy athlete is a fast, successful athlete.”

n Erica Hawley and Tyler Smith both delivered impressive performances at the Central American and Caribbean Junior Elite Triathlon Championships in Puerto San Jose, Guatemala, at the weekend.

Smith, who finished sixth, suffered a mishap in transition when bumped by a fellow competitor who knocked over his bike and dislodged a shoe from a pedal when he was poised to go out with the lead group after the swim.

He then had to work hard with two other riders to get back up to the leaders at the end of the third of four laps on the bike.

Hawley, who claimed ninth place, made a strong start, swimming in a lead pack of five girls.

She came out of the water in fourth before joining the lead pack on the bike. The run was tough in the extreme heat and humidity and while Hawley lost some places she hung on well for a strong finish.

Both Smith and Hawley have another two years in the junior category, making their encouraging display all the more impressive.