Rachel Klamer has already been impressed with the island’s excitement for MS Amlin World Triathlon Bermuda today, and Flora Duffy in particular, and expects competitors to “suffer” the wrath of Corkscrew Hill.

Klamer, the series leader after winning the opening race in Abu Dhabi eight weeks ago, praised the Bermudian’s impact on the sport and said that the island’s enthusiasm for the event is obvious.

“It’s awesome that there’s new girls coming in and Flora is currently world No 1,” said the Dutchwoman after the triathletes went through a course familiarisation yesterday. “Of course, we’re all going to do our best to change that, but it’s amazing to see what Flora does for women’s sport and any other girl.

“Just now, when we were doing the course familiarisation, so many people were already cheering. I told the other girls it looks like we are already racing. Everyone is so excited — it’s awesome.”

Klamer, 27, is now prepared for what should be an interesting course, with the feature being Corkscrew Hill, up which the triathletes will ride ten times today. The elite men’s race starts at 1.06pm, with the women getting under way three hours later.

“The last couple of days we looked around a bit, checked out the course, we saw the steep hill,” she said. “It’s different in a big bunch because now all the athletes are together, so you always have to be a bit more careful; you can’t take the lines like you wanted to.”

Nevertheless, there could be some fascinating moments up the hill, especially with those triathletes who will need to play catch-up to be in contention.

“If there are big gaps, you have to give everything and try to get into a good pack,” Klamer said. “Doing that hill ten times is going to be tough; one time is already tough. And then coming off the bike and [on to the] run, people are going to suffer.”

Klamer also acknowledged that triathlon is tougher now, coinciding with Duffy’s rise to the top of the world rankings.

“This sport has changed in the last couple of years,” Klamer said. “It used to be [that] you could just stay on the bike and it would become a running race; it’s not like that any more. You have to be a really good swimmer, a really good biker, a really good runner. This sport is getting harder.”

Bermuda — Corkscrew Hill, in particular — is set to give today’s competitors a little extra challenge this afternoon.