It appeared last year that there would be no let-up in Dame Flora Duffy’s dominance of short-course triathlon as she basked in the glory of a fourth women’s world title, which she added to her illustrious list of honours including winning Bermuda’s first Olympic gold medal and defending her Commonwealth Games crown.

However, Duffy has yet to take to the start line of any race in 2023, with those endeavours exacerbating a long-term knee injury, first diagnosed as a tear in her patella tendon six months earlier.

The setback has forced Duffy to concede any hope of making a return this year as she continues her rehabilitation under the guidance of doctors and physiotherapists.

“As of two weeks ago, I decided to write this year off and not race,” Duffy told The Royal Gazette while on a short return to Bermuda this week.

“I’m taking what would be my usual end-of-season break now to focus fully on my rehabilitation.

“Hopefully that will mean that come October and through to July I can train fully, which will give me a big block of build-up rather than trying to race a little and then taking a break. This gives me a lot more time and my fitness can build right through.

“It’s hard to put a real timeline on the injury healing because there have been a few occasions where I thought everything was OK again and then realised it wasn’t.

“However, I’m hopeful that by November I will be back to a solid amount of swimming and cycling with a smaller amount of running. From there I think I could have a nice steady build-up to getting back to racing.”

Duffy, 35, also spoke about the emotional and mental challenges of having to re-evaluate expectations in what was supposed to be her final season racing over the short-course discipline as she planned to make the step up in distance to compete on the Professional Triathletes Organisation 100-kilometre Tour.

“It’s definitely been a challenging year and I never would have thought from January to now that I wouldn’t have raced,” she added.

“My knee has been a huge challenge, not without me putting a lot of effort in and consulting with doctors and physiotherapists. It’s been difficult to find the correct rehab pathway.

“You have to commit to one for six weeks then something changes and suddenly three months have gone by and you haven’t progressed anywhere.

“I think now I’m starting to get a better idea of what is going on with my knee and what the correct rehab is.

“As an athlete you always want to be out there racing. You have those thoughts of well. if this is the end then I wasn’t quite ready for it, and maybe I could have done things differently.

“That’s a scary position to be in. I set out knowing I’m only going to be racing short course for one more year and I’ve already been injured for so long, that’s a scary thought.

“It’s been hard to manage the emotions of wanting this chapter of my career to be a certain way and it not going quite to plan.

“However, I know I can’t dwell on things because things are as they are and so it’s been a constant shift of focusing my attention on the present and not worrying about what is down the road because I can’t control that.”

Despite the emotional toll, Duffy has taken solace from making a sensational comeback from a frustrating long-term tendon injury in 2018, going on to become the most successful female athlete in the sport.

“I learnt a lot from my previous foot injury and this year I’ve definitely been a lot more mentally prepared and strong through this process,” she said.

“I know it’s just part of the journey and so I’ve been able to handle it a lot better

“It’s still tough when things drag on for as long as this has, especially because I know things have to start turning around soon because the Olympics are coming up and I haven’t trained properly all year, and I really need to start.

“However, I know what it takes to get back to the level needed and if things do change and I can get back to full training, I’m confident I don’t have to do anything too miraculous to get where I need to be.

“I know I’m still capable of racing at the highest level and so it’s just about getting the opportunity to race again.”

While she may have already fulfilled her childhood dream of becoming Olympic champion, Duffy has a burning desire to further etch her name into the annals of not only Bermudian but world sporting history on the biggest stage of them all in Paris.

“The Olympics has always been my major guiding light and I would love to get to Paris and be in a position to defend my title,” added Duffy, who is aiming to become the first female to defend an Olympic title and emulate male counterpart Alistair Brownlee.

“That would the perfect way to round out the short-course part of my career.

“That has always been the big goal. It would be amazing to go into an Olympics as the defending champion and try to fight to do it again. In triathlon only one male, Alistair Brownlee, has achieved that and so it would be amazing to be the first female.

“It’s funny because I also take some confidence from Alistair Brownlee’s story because he had some crazy injuries over the years and has always managed to come back from them.

“I’ve seen it can be done and I know from my own experience that I can come back from injury and still have success.

“The Olympics is just so much bigger than any other title that I’ve won, they are not even comparable. The emotion that the gold medal had on so many people, that was really special and I know only the Olympics has that impact so that all feeds into the emotion of wanting to get there again.

“The thought of racing in Paris, in front of the Eiffel Tower at an Olympic Games is just an amazing thing. It is an iconic venue and it would be truly special to defend my title there.”

Despite uncertainty over a potential return date, Duffy has no concerns over her chances of qualifying for the Games, as she still sits in nineteenth in the Olympic rankings after recording four wins within the two-year qualification period, which started on May 27 last year.

“I know that I have a bunch of points already and so I may just need to do a couple of races next year, but it’s nothing majorly stressful,” she said. “Any racing I’ll do early next year will be to improve my Olympic points and if I can have two good results that would boost me massively. As long as I’m fit and healthy it should be fine to qualify.”

On the expectation that Duffy seals qualification, she could find herself in an unfamiliar position of being an underdog when she takes to the start line at the base of Pont Alexandre III Bridge on July 31.

While she may not fully agree with the notion, Duffy feels her absence form any competitive action may play into her favour, with the spotlight of expectation being thrust on to her rivals, particularly home favourite Cassandre Beaugrand, who sits second in the Olympic standings.

“From the other competitors point of view I’m not sure I would go in under the radar because I think they all know you can never really know what to expect from me,” she said.

“Perhaps from the wider community and media standpoint that spotlight will be taken off of me though which can be really helpful.

“The big thing with the Olympics is being able to manage the pressure and expectations which there is a huge amount of.

“The fact I’ve already won a gold medal helps and this is not a home Olympics for me like it will be for others which makes it really tough.

“In terms of short-course racing I still feel like if I’m healthy and fit I can go into any race with the potential to win.”