Flora Duffy is featured on the cover of the latest issue of Triathlete magazine and, as you would expect, Bermuda gets a fair mention.

The article, written by Kelly O’Mara, chronicles Duffy’s rise to become the most dominant female triathlete in the world, documenting how she started as a youngster in Bermuda, to how she nearly quit the sport a decade ago, to now; where she is the two-times reigning ITU World Triathlon Series champion and Commonwealth Games gold medal-winner.

Duffy talked about her early days with the Tri-Hedz club.

“When people asked me, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ I’d say, ‘I want to be a pro triathlete, world champion and gold medallist,” she said. “And they’d look at me like, ‘Oh s***, I think this little girl really means it’.”

She talked about boarding school in England, her rise up the rankings, her eating disorder, and not finishing at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.

“On the one hand, I was getting faster,” she said. “But on the other hand, it was a very destructive path to get there.”

Following that, she went to the University of Colorado, where she attempted, unsuccessfully, to be a fun college student.

“It was a life epiphany,” she said. “I thought, ‘this is not me, who am I trying to be? You’re a triathlete’.”

The article mentions meeting Dan Hugo, now her husband, her decision to commit full-time, and the letter he wrote urging her to fulfil her potential entitled: “Flora’s Steps to Being a Multiple World Champion”.

Duffy said: “It made a pretty profound impact on me. Someone had thought through these things and thought I could be world class.”

He was not wrong. And even though Duffy has all but conceded winning a third straight WTS title by pulling out of Edmonton this weekend with a nagging foot injury, it is clear that her dedication, commitment and utilising the best of her ability have made her the most dominant force in the sport.

“It’s what I need to do to be on the podium, so I just do it.”

• For the full article, click on the PDF link under “Related Media”