Dutchman Eric van der Linden is hoping to add victory in Bermuda this weekend to his triumph in the last World Cup event in Embrun, France, in August.

But he knows victory in one event doesn't usually mean success will follow in the next. That has been the case among the men in the ITU World Cup this season, as a different winner has emerged in each of the first seven stops.

Still, that first World Cup win certainly gives the 23-year-old plenty of confidence going into Sunday's event in Hamilton. Previously his best finish was seventh in Stockholm in July and, at number ten in the world, van der Linden feels the top spot is realistically within his grasp in the next few years.

"Being in the top ten I'm already satisfied and when you are in the top ten you are competing pretty good,'' said van der Linden, who took up triathlon at age 16 but has only been a professional in the last year.

"Winning a World Cup is something very special and being in the top ten is already an achievement because the level of competition is so high.'' While van der Linden is "going for number one'' this weekend, he admits a top three or four finish would be very satisfying, especially considering the quality of the field.

Consider that Chris McCormack and Greg Bennett -- both from Australia and ranked one and two in the world -- could only manage finishes of seventh and eighth last year in Bermuda and van der Linden is wise to give his opponents their due respect.

Defending champion Dimitry Gagg of Kazakstan, who is currently ranked fourth in the world, has just confirmed his entry, adding to the quality of the field.

The two top women -- world number one Emma Carney and number two Rina Hill -- are also Australian and will be in action on Sunday.

"They are a great nation,'' van der Linden acknowledges. "There is no comparision, Australia with Holland.

"We are a country 100 times smaller than Australia. They have good athletes and good backgrounds in running and swimming and they have good triathletes also.'' Van der Linden rates himself in very good condition and is eager to get back into action though he doesn't know what to expect with weather conditions.

"Since the last Cup I've been training only in Europe and I can see the conditions here are much different,'' said van der Linden. "It is much warmer here.

"Mostly I'm better in colder weather but we will see on Sunday.'' Van der Linden is aiming for a gold medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, when triathlon makes its debut, and is hoping to be number one in the world by then.

"I hope to get stronger in the next couple of years and hopefully there will be more wins in the World Cup,'' he said.

"I'm 23 and will have a couple of years to get in shape. I will be 26 when the Olympics come and hopefully will be on top. The competition is tough so there will be a lot of guys who will want to be number one.'' Van der Linden has too much to worry about with the conditions and the three disciplines to concern himself too much with the competition.

"At the moment I think running will be my strongest but I don't have an exceptionally strong one,'' he said.

"Swimming will be very hard in the World Cup because the level is so high.

It's a totally different race, my win (in France) was very much in the mountains but here is a more flat course.

"I haven't raced in a month so I'm hungry for a race. When you have good training you only get stronger.'' A list of entries released yesterday brought the total number of competitors to 160, including 95 men.