Flora Duffy is back in action today in the 2015 Sardegna ITU Cross Triathlon World Championships.

One of the muddiest disciplines in triathlon, the race in Italy takes in a 1.5-kilometre swim, 31k off-terrain bike ride and 9.6k cross country run.

The Bermuda triathlete was second in the race last year and although she has not been as present on the Xterra circuit as last year, she did win the Xterra Mountain Championship in July.

Kathrin Muller, of Germany, returns as the reigning champion after her win in Zittau last year, with most observers considering this to be her race to lose.

Other contenders for a podium finish include Renata Bucher, Jacqueline Slack and Elisabetta Curridori.

Bucher won this year’s Schluchsee ETU TNatura Cross Triathlon European Championships and can be expected to carry that momentum into Sardegna in the hopes of improving from her seventh-place finish in Zittau last year.

Slack, meanwhile, is no stranger to the sport, and the Briton finished sixth in the World Championships last year.

Also taking part is Barbara Riveros, of Chile, who is new to the cross triathlon discipline, but not the sport. Riveros took gold at the Pan American Games in Toronto earlier this year, the race in which Duffy won bronze.