Dame Flora Duffy heads into her next race in Las Vegas today insisting she is “not here to make up the numbers”.

The 2020 Olympic triathlon champion finished eighth in her first attempt on the T100 Triathlon Series in Ibiza three weeks ago, but her winning mentality is as strong as ever as she hopes for a higher finish over the punishing 100km distance.

“I love to race and I love to be competitive but I don’t want to just be someone who is making up the numbers,” said Duffy in a YouTube video published by the T100 Series this week.

“I want to be up there, fighting for the win and fighting for the podium, so that’s definitely my goal racing in this T100 series.”

It is only two months since Duffy attempted to defend her Olympic crown in Paris, finishing fifth in the French capital.

In Ibiza, she entered the T100 Series with only three races left and was forced to play catch-up with some specialists at the middle distance.

“I’m now lifting my head after being in that super tunnel vision of preparing for an Olympic Games and shifting my view on to what’s next and paying more attention to the T100 series,” Duffy said.

“I’m racing a different distance, my training is changing and I’m riding a different bike. I’m unsure if I will ever race a short-course race again and my mind is definitely shifting to part two of my career, which is racing over the middle distance in the T100 series.

“I might have won an Olympics but that really doesn’t mean too much racing over this distance because that’s completely different. It’s settling in to some longer training, getting used to the longer efforts and a steadier state. It’s really just having a positive framing to racing this distance. I’m really excited and I’ve come into these races achieving a lot over short course, but that doesn’t really mean anything.

“There is a lot of momentum and excitement behind the series and a lot of really strong athletes racing in them. Coming in midway through the season is also a little bit strange because everyone has been racing each other throughout the year and then there is a few of us coming in now and I don’t know, I think anything can happen to be honest.”

Duffy has happy memories of this Lake Las Vegas venue after virtually lapping the entire field to win the XTerra West Championships in 2014 and she hopes that she will again be able to produce her best.

“I’m excited to go back to Vegas, back to this venue but doing a completely different style of triathlon,” Duffy said.

“I hope I’m able to give 100 per cent of myself. It’s easier to give more than 100 per cent if you are at the front, fighting for the win or the podium because obviously everyone wants to be there.

“But this is a series and every single position matters. This one really matters as it’s the final race before the grand final, so I’m preparing myself to give 100 per cent, to not give up and fight for every place.”

Duffy knows she is up against the strongest triathletes in the world this weekend, with the race scheduled to start at 12.15pm Bermuda time this afternoon. She knows one false move could end her chances of a first podium finish.

“The favourite is obviously Taylor Knibb, she is phenomenal over this distance, but the list is endless,” Duffy said.

It’s 20 of the best women and you can pick any single one of them and say why they could possibly win the race or be on the podium. I’m used to that racing on the short-course circuit, so in that regard it is not too daunting for me or not too much of a difference, but having the same 20 women who are the best in the world at this distance in each and every single race just intensifies the race experience.

“You can’t make a mistake if you want to win these races and I know it’s a tall order, but I know what it takes to get there. It definitely means if you have a bad day you might have a baaaaad day. That’s just the level of racing, you can’t make mistakes because they will be exploited.”