Flora Duffy will continue to fine-tune her preparations for a third straight Olympic Games appearance at next month’s World Triathlon Series season opener in Abu Dhabi.

The two-times Xterra World Champion will make the transition from off-road triathlon to the on-road version at the World Triathlon Series Abu Dhabi on March 5.

“I will be switching to the road side of triathlon now in the lead-up to the Olympics,” Duffy said. “I’m looking forward to racing and testing out my road form.”

Duffy achieved a milestone at last year’s Abu Dhabi Triathlon after placing third, her first podium at an International Triathlon Union World Series event.

“I had a great race in Abu Dhabi last year and it would be great to repeat the same,” Duffy said. “However, I don’t think I have quite the same level of fitness as I did last year, so we will see.”

Duffy will go into next month’s event high on confidence after romping to a third successive Xterra South African Championship in Grabouw, Western Cape, in her season opener last weekend,

“A win is always a great way to start the season and the threepeat feels great,” she said.

“It was a goal of mine to start the season in this way, so I’m glad to achieve it.”

Duffy finished the 1.5km swim, 28km mountain bike ride and 12.5km trail run in a time of 2hr 39min 8sec.

“I think it is one of my better off-road performances,” Duffy added. “Everything did go to plan except I did not swim as well as I thought I would, but that’s a minor issue.

“I didn’t crash and rode the technical sections of the bike course well, so I was happy.”

The multiple Female Athlete of the Year made the most of her vast knowledge of the racecourse.

“I know the course well and get to pre-ride the bike course more than once as it’s only 45 minutes from where I stay in South Africa,” she said.

“It’s a technical and challenging course and it’s taken me a few years to finally feel like I could really race the course. It’s also my favourite race, so maybe that also added to my performance.”

Duffy is ranked twelfth in the ITU Olympic qualification list after a series of superb performances over the past two years and has all but qualified for this summer’s Olympics in Rio.