With Bermuda’s ongoing preparations for the cricket World Cup predictably commanding the lion’s share of headlines, it was the spectacular emergence of two other stars that made 2006 a stand-out year for local sport.

In triathlete Flora Duffy and golfer Michael Sims, Bermuda have in their possession two individuals with the potential to become world class members of their chosen professions.

Sims’ rise in golf’s big league has taken a little longer than most expected.

Precociously talented as a teenager and tipped for great things in his early 20s, Sims endured five frustrating years as a professional before finally breaking through in November by earning his full Nationwide Tour card following a punishing Q-School campaign in the US.

Ironically, the 27-year-old Canadian Tour rookie was coming towards the end of arguably one of his more disappointing years when he made his historic Q-School run, with occasional hot rounds being heavily outnumbered by missed cuts.

A second-place finish at the Bermuda Open in October, however, was just the sort of performance his confidence required and after that, he never once looked back.

Almost everybody who is qualified to judge believes it is only a matter of time before Sims is plying his trade at the very highest level — the PGA Tour.

But just by making it through to the second tier of pro golf in the US, he is already regarded as the best golfer this Island has ever produced.

For 19-year-old Flora Duffy, meanwhile, 2006 represented a quite extraordinary break-out year.

It is rare, if not almost unheard of, for an inexperienced teenager to be competing with and often outshining the best female triathletes in the world.

But that is exactly what the UK-based Duffy did throughout a golden 12-month spell, during which her performances at World Cup races virtually guaranteed her a place at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Highlights of the year included her eighth-place finish at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, her ninth and sixth-place finishes at World Cup races in Hamburg and Cancun respectively and a silver medal at the World Junior Triathlon Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland.

And though she has admitted that Beijing will perhaps come too soon in terms of her Olympic medal ambitions, this year’s results alone are enough to suggest she has it in her to become the most successful local female athlete of all time.

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Elsewhere, 2006 was a good year for cyclist Tyler Butterfield, who signed for a young, highly-rated US professional team after a successful year riding for Vendee U, a top amateur outfit in France.

At the Commonwealth Games in March, aside from Duffy’s heroics, swimmer Kiera Aitken smashed two national records on her way to the final of the 50 metre backstroke and gymnast Caitlyn Mello became the first local to reach a gymnastics final at the Games.

At the CAC Games in Cartagena, Colombia, meanwhile, the squash team of Nick Kyme, Melrindo Caines, Michael Shrubb and James Stout claimed the bronze medal in the team event — Bermuda’s first medal for 12 years.

In boxing, Teresa Perozzi retained her North American Boxing Council (NABC) belt following two points victories over American’s Martha Deitchman and Roselin Morales and looks set to fight for the vacant WBC middleweight belt early in the New Year.

After a slow start, sailor Blythe Walker surprised even himself by winning the Petite Final of the King Edward VII Gold Cup in October on the back of limited preparation, while in tennis, Island number ones Andy Bray and Ashley Brooks swept all before them in claiming their illustrious Grand Slams.

On the road running scene, former track star Terrance Armstrong claimed his third-straight Marathon Derby title on May 24 — thwarting a determined challenge from the young and talented Lamont Marshall, while newcomer Dawn Richardson clinched the women’s title.

And in squash, the Island’s only pro Nick Kyme called it quits after three challenging years on the world tour.