It is unlikely there has been a Bermudian athlete to have experienced a year quite as glorious as Flora Duffy’s 2016.

Certainly from a Bermudian sporting perspective, the past 12 months have well and truly belonged to Duffy who captured a trio of world titles during her career-best season.

The 29-year-old swept the board, fending off favourite Gwen Jorgensen, of the United States, to win the Grand Final Cozumel in Mexico and claim a maiden ITU World Triathlon Series title, as well as retaining both her Xterra and ITU Cross Triathlon World Championships.

The only blot on Duffy’s copybook was her disappointing eighth-place finish at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, having been widely tipped as a medal contender after winning both the ITU World Triathlon Series in Stockholm in July and the World Cup in Montreal two weeks before the Games.

Duffy’s anti-climatic showing in Rio was still the island’s top finish, although there were several encouraging performances from Bermuda’s athletes, particularly from Olympic sailing debutants Cameron Pimental and Cecilia Wollmann.

Pimentel was a wild-card entry and had only been competing in the Laser class for two years, yet still managed to punch above his weight in several races with top finishes of 27th and 31st out of 46 sailors.

Wollmann, one of the youngest in the Laser Radials at 18, also learnt some harsh but important lessons in the rough seas and strong winds of Guanabara Bay, while rower Shelley Pearson laid down solid foundations with her fourth-place finish in the single sculls C final.

A few weeks later, wheelchair athlete Jessica Lewis and boccia player Yushae Andrade both represented the island at the Rio Paralympics, where Lewis came sixth in the T53 100 metres before setting personal best times in the 400 and 800.

Nahki Wells continued to establish himself as one of the deadliest strikers in the Sky Bet Championships, ending last season strongly with eight goals during the second of the season. The 26-year-old not only finished as the club’s top scorer with 18 strikes, he also picked up the Player of the Year and the Players’ Player of the Year awards.

Wells has netted five times this season, helping his side to fourth in the table, with Championship rivals Fulham and Norwich City believed to be interested in him as next month’s transfer window approaches.

Several other Bermudians enjoyed success in English football over the past 12 months, with Reggie Lambe earning a move to League Two high flyers Carlisle United after impressing for Mansfield Town last season.

Meanwhile Freddy Hall, the Bermuda goalkeeper, played his part in Limerick’s promotion to the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division at the first time of asking during a thoroughly dominant campaign.

Another Bermudian goalkeeper, Nathan Trott, signed an initial 2½-year deal with Premier League side West Ham United in January, where he joined compatriot Djair Parfitt-Williams. Trott has since extended that deal to 2020 and received a call-up to the England Under-19 squad.

In the absence of key players such as Wells, Hall and Rai Simons, of Chesterfield, Bermuda failed to reach the third round of Scotiabank Caribbean Cup, losing their final group match 3-0 to French Guiana in Cayenne in June.

Andrew Bascome, the Bermuda coach, told The Royal Gazette in an exclusive post-match interview that he would be stepping down from his position, believing it was time for a “younger man” to take charge and prepare the team for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

Bascome has subsequently been persuaded to continue his role and will lead the team against Canada in an international friendly at the National Stadium next month.

Offering a tantalising glimpse through the looking glass, the Bermuda Under-20 side qualified for the Concacaf Under-20 Championship after finishing runners-up in their group at the Caribbean Football Union Under-20 finals in Curaçao in October. They reached the semi-final where they lost 3-0 to Haiti before beating Trinidad in the third-place play-off.

Coach Kyle Lightbourne’s team will now begin their Concacaf Under-20 campaign in February, having been pitted in a group with Trinidad, El Salvador and host nation Costa Rica.

On the domestic front, Dandy Town won the Premier Division title last season before suffering from title hangover, failing to win any of their opening six league games this season.

Somerset Trojans claimed the first piece of silverware of the year, beating PHC Zebras 2-1 at Somerset Cricket Club on New Year’s Day, while Robin Hood defeated Town 2-0 to secure their first FA Cup at the National Stadium in April.

Meanwhile, Devonshire Cougars, who have made an encouraging start to life under new coach Omar Butterfield, lifted the Dudley Eve Trophy after a 1-0 win over PHC at Devonshire Recreation Club last month.

Larry Mussenden, who was succeeded by Mark Wade as Bermuda Football Association president in September, was left bemoaning a lack of support from the Caribbean nations after losing his bid to become the Concacaf president. Mussenden lost to Canadian Victor Montagliani by 25 votes to 16 at the Concacaf Congress in Mexico City in May.

The Bermuda cricket team retained their ICC World Cricket League Division Four status in Los Angeles last month. Coach Clay Smith’s side finished fourth in the table with two wins and three defeats, before losing to Denmark in the third-place play-off game.

Domestically, powerhouse St David’s held off Bailey’s Bay to win the Logic Premier Division. Bay still added to their well-stocked trophy cabinet, retaining their Twenty20 title after defeating Southampton Rangers, as well as beating St David’s in the Belco Cup final.

Rangers did at least walk away with the Western Counties before picking up the Champion of Champions Trophy in September, beating St David’s. In the Eastern Counties, St David’s dethroned Cleveland County to seize the title, while Western Stars earned the bragging rights in the Central Counties.

Somerset retained the Cup Match trophy after two days of cricket failed to produce a winner at Somerset Cricket Club, with the match bringing the curtain down on Janeiro Tucker’s glorious classic career.

The Somerset stalwart became the first batsman to score five centuries in Cup Match with a patient 113, which was the all-rounder’s first hundred in Somerset in his 21st appearance.

A young and largely inexperienced Bermuda team returned with just the one medal from the Carifta Games in Granada in April, with high jumper Sakari Famous winning bronze in the under-18 girls’ category.

Bermuda had several personal bests, however, including Lynsey Palmer in the 3,000, Elisha Darrell in the high jump, as well as Djymon Reid and Stephan Dill in the 100.

At the Carifta Swimming Championships in Martinique in April, Bermuda’s 11-member squad won an impressive 21 medals, including nine gold.

Emma Harvey dominated the girls’ 13-14 age group, winning seven gold as well as three silver, to surpass the six medals she won the previous year.

In the Appleby Bermuda Half-Marathon Derby, Lamont Marshall — who also won the National Cross-Country Championships in July — broke his duck to claim the title, joining older brother Larry as the first siblings to take overall honours in Bermuda’s biggest race. In the absence of last year’s winner Chris Estwanik, Marshall seized the opportunity to savour victory, crossing the line in 1hr 13min 59sec.

Ashley Estwanik joined husband Chris as a six-times champion after storming to an emphatic victory in the women’s race. The mother of two led from wire-to-wire before crossing the Bernard Park finish line eighth overall in 1:27:25 with no other female runner in sight.

In the year’s first major competition, the Bermuda Marathon Weekend, Adam Bitchell, of Wales, timed his kick to perfection to emerge victorious in one of the most thrilling finishes to the KPMG Bermuda Invitational Front Street Mile.

It was almost impossible to tell who had crossed the line first, with just a tenth of a second separating the top three in the elite mile race. In the women’s race, Heather Kampf, of the United States, stormed to a fourth consecutive win.

In the 10K race the next day, Jordan Chipangama, of Zambia, was victorious for his second title in three years, with Laura Paulsen, of the United States, taking the women’s crown.

Chipangama also romped to a third half-marathon title in four years, while Ukrainian Valentyna Poltavska became the first woman to win the Bermuda Marathon.

A refreshed and hungry Gavin Manders became Bermuda’s most successful singles tennis player in Davis Cup history, winning his fourteenth match in the America’s Zone in Bolivia in July to edge past Jenson Bascome’s 12 victories. Bermuda finished seventh in a nine-team group.

And in golf, David Wettlaufer kept it together while others around him unravelled to capture a maiden Gosling’s Invitational title at the fifth attempt at Port Royal last month. The former Canadian Tour and European Senior Tour player withstood the blustery conditions to claim the $12,000 winner’s purse to finish at three-under 279.

Meanwhile, Stevie Dickinson, with crew Pat Young in Kitty Hawk, sailed to a fourth straight and nineteenth overall victory in the Long Distance Comet Race from St George’s to Dockyard in June. Dickinson had to draw upon his vast experience in a race that lasted about five hours because of a lack of wind.

A pair of superbly worked second-half tries secured South Africa a sixth World Rugby Classic title at the North Field in November.

Tonderai Chavhanga and JP Nel struck the decisive blows that separated the two sides to hand South Africa a deserved 14-0 victory over Argentina.

Although it could be some time before a Bermudian athlete enjoys a season quite like Duffy’s, there are plenty of sporting feasts on the table for next year, none more so than the America’s Cup.

The race for the “Auld Mug” will be the biggest sporting event to be held on the island. Roll on 2017!