Dame Flora Duffy is looking forward to competing on the rebranded T100 Triathlon World Tour but is adamant her top priority is defending her Olympic title.

The 36-year-old Bermudian has officially signed up for the eight-race series, which features 40 of the world’s highest-ranked athletes, but she intends to begin competing only after the Games in Paris have concluded.

“It’s very exciting to sign a contract to race in the T100 Series and I will only be racing in that after Paris,” Duffy told The Royal Gazette.

“My full focus for this first portion of the year is on the Paris Olympics, so I will only be switching over to some long-course stuff after that.”

The new tour will be spread across three continents, with the season set to begin in Miami on March 9 and conclude with the Grand Final on November 30 at a Middle East venue yet to be announced, where the 2024 women’s and men’s world champions will be crowned.

Thirty-two of the athletes qualified as a result of their world ranking at two points during 2023, with eight additional spots awarded to women and men whose past results and future potential promises to add excitement. Individual wild cards will be awarded for each race.

“It’s a really exciting time in the space of triathlon to have this new series and there’s a lot of potential racing around the world,” Duffy added.

“There’s a lot of opportunity there so I am excited for that. Stepping into this new distance will be a big challenge and something that I am excited for.

“I have done a bit of this racing in 2022, but it’s very different from what I have been doing, so I am excited to learn a new aspect of triathlon.

“My thoughts are to switch more to the long-course side of triathlon, so this is the first step in doing that and learning as much as I can because it’s going to be a very strong field. A lot of really great women have signed on to this series, so it will be a huge challenge but one I am looking forward to.”

The four-times ITU women’s world champion and two-times Commonwealth Games champion hopes to make her first appearance on the new circuit at the Ibiza 100 to be held on September 28 and 29.

“This series is brand new but I have competed in one of these races in 2022 when I raced in Dallas, where I finished sixth, so I have a little bit of experience racing in it,” Duffy said.

“It’s a bit strange to talk about it right now because I won’t be really thinking about this until after the Olympics, so my first race will be at the end of September in Ibiza.”

Duffy is aiming to become the first female triathlete to defend an Olympic title with Briton Alistair Brownlee the first to achieve the feat among the men.

She did not compete in 2023 as a result of a knee injury but is still ranked 33rd in the most recent projected Olympic qualification simulation, with 55 spaces available at the Games.

The deadline to pick up points expires on May 27, and if she is to race that month her options include the World Champion Triathlon Series in Yokohama, Japan, or the World Triathlon Cup in Huatulco, Mexico.