<Bt-4>Duffy off to World Cup race in Cancun
Since that time she has competed against the best in the world despite still only being 18-years-old.
She said this week: “I feel pretty good and training has been going well. At least I am training here in Bermuda and not in England (her regular base) where it is getting cold.”
2006 has been Duffy’s break-out year with her taking second place at the World Junior Championships in Switzerland and then coming in ninth place with a stunning performance at the Hamburg Triathlon — only her second World Cup race.
And then at the Beijing Triathlon — the site of the 2008 Olympic Games — Duffy came in 19th place.
Right now she is ranked 43rd in Olympic rankings after only three World Cup races.
She certainly has earned much praise from former Bermuda triathletes likes Kris Hedges and Tyler Butterfield.
Hedges said of Duffy: “I am very impressed her. She has raise her game. Early on when she was in primary school and was getting into the the triahtlon she showed real talent and then for a while she seemed to lose a bit of direction.
“But her decision to go to school in Devon (Kelly College) was a great move.”
Kelly College has a superb triathlon programme.
“Right now she is focussed and she has the support system in place. She has really matured well and hopefully the momentum will stay there and she remains injury free. We are looking for her to be one of our top athletes at the Pan Am Games next year.”
Butterfield, who competed in the triathlon for Bermuda at the 2004 Athens Olympics and who now cycles full time, said: “It is awesome what she has been doing. The event in Hamburg was a world class event. And her performance at the World (Junior) Championships was excellent.”
Butterfield travelled to Switzerland to give support to Duffy during the Junior Worlds.
And he believed she could have come in with the gold medal that day instead of the silver. “She came out of water with the leaders and had a bad transition. It is not like she just had a good day — she made a good day of it because she is a talented athlete. She deserves everything she gets. If the chips had fallen in a different way in Switzerland she could have been on that top step. And in Hamburg she was sprinting for seventh place and eventually came ninth — that makes it more impressive.”
Like Hedges, Butterfield said Kelly College in Devon “is great” for Duffy.
“She has made some very wise choices — she is going great. The more races she does and more experiences she gets the more times she will consistently be in the top ten. She will get more comfortable and confident and that is when the athlete comes into their own.”
