Though she is loathe to say she will be up there challenging Karen Smith at next week's Bank of Bermuda Triathlon, teenager Flora Duffy does at least have the perennial victor in her sights.

The 15-year-old placed third in last year's event, behind winner Smith and runner-up Ashley Couper, Smith coming home in 1:06.46, followed by Couper in 1:11.28 and Duffy in 1:12.12.

Duffy was second for much of the race in Hamilton but was overhauled by middle distance specialist Couper in the final stages.

"I was surprised that Ashley caught me up on the run because I didn't realise she was such a strong triathlete," said Duffy of the 1,500 metre specialist. "I was second until the last lap on the run and she just caught me up."

Duffy will be using that experience as a spur to go at least one better in next weekend's event.

"I am not too sure who is in the women's event," she said. "But my preparation has gone pretty good. I have been training pretty hard and the races have been good so far this year so, hopefully, I will have a good race."

Duffy says her strength is in the swim, the first of the three disciplines and the key to a good performance.

"That has been my strongest this year," she said. "Hopefully I will then have a good bike and then try and stay strong on the run because that has been pretty weak for the last couple of years."

Her poor runs are down to something she has little or no control over.

"I have had really bad injuries," she said. "For the last year and a half I have had shin-splints on and off all the time. Every time I start to get back fit and running my shins start hurting again and I can't run that much.

"But they have been pretty good recently and they don't really hurt when I'm actually running. It's usually afterwards that I'll feel them."

Many people are looking to Duffy to take over from the likes of Smith, but the schoolgirl believes she has some way to go before she is ready to make that leap. "In a couple of years, maybe," she said. "But at the moment she is so much stronger on the bike and the run than me."