Dame Flora Duffy has revealed a mix of emotions as she embarks on her second season on the T100 Triathlon World Tour.

Duffy, who joined the tour late last year after finishing fifth at the Olympic Games in Paris, has appeared in a promotional video for the tour as she explains her difficulties at getting to grips with the 100km distance.

Since joining the tour, Duffy has appeared on the podium once in her three races — ninth in Ibiza, third in Las Vegas and fourth in the series finale in Dubai — with her performances earning a full-time contract to race on the tour, which features $250,000 in prize money at each of the eight events and with the overall series winner earning $200,000.

But it’s not the money on offer that motivates Duffy, as she wants the chance to prove herself at a different distance. However, she realises her time at the top may be coming to an end.

“I only have a limited amount of time to achieve my goals at the middle distance,” said Duffy, 37, in From Olympic Champ to Rookie: Flora Duffy Steps Up, which was released on YouTube on Sunday.

“I’m learning the tactics and how far I can push. I could have just stayed in my short-course world, where I know how to race and where I’m comfortable.

“I come into these races having achieved everything over short-course. To win Bermuda’s first gold medal when it’s been your goal since you were 8 years old. What a magical moment that is, but now I have to be really shifting my views on what’s next.”

By her own admission, Duffy struggled in her first race on the T100 tour and her past achievements mean nothing when she is suffering, which she did in her first event in the series in Ibiza in September.

“I might have won an Olympics, but that doesn’t really mean too much racing over the 100km distance because it is completely different,” Duffy said.

“I have very mixed feelings about the distance and so far it’s definitely beaten me up. I never thought I would walk in a race or run slower than a four-minute kilometre, but I did. That really speaks to the unpredictability of this distance. I’m still a beginner and someone that needs to learn quickly if I want to be competitive.”

Despite her difficulties, the competitive spirit still flows strongly through the 2021 Olympic champion’s veins as she trains in the mountains in Cape Town, South Africa, in advance of the T100 season opener in Singapore in the first week of April.

“If things go as I hope and I can train and prepare for these races as needed, I think I’m someone who can challenge for the podiums,” Duffy said.

“That’s certainly what I hope, what I’m going to train for and why I’m doing this. I mean I love to race and I love to be competitive but I don’t want to be someone who is just making up the numbers. I want to be up there fighting for the win and fighting for the podium.”

There is also no desire on Duffy’s part to abandon the long-course experiment, and she is determined to tackle the challenge as she seeks to win her first race on the tour this year.

“Having spent so much of my time racing short-course, it’s great to get to this whole other side of triathlon that I haven’t been able to explore,” Duffy said.

“So that really motivates me, excites me and is what keeps me going after reaching all of my goals in the short-course part of triathlon. There’s this whole other side that you can explore, win world titles and win really, really big races.”