Dame Flora Duffy is eager to shake off the cobwebs at the launch of a new season in the T100 Triathlon World Tour on Saturday.

The Bermudian is one of the 21 women in the elite field in the Singapore opener, which significantly will be without world champion Taylor Knibb.

Duffy, who committed fully to the ultra format after the Paris Olympics last year, is hoping to build on progress made in an abbreviated campaign over the two-kilometre swim, 80km bike and 18km run.

“I’m looking to see where my fitness is coming off the off-season training,” Duffy told The Royal Gazette. “You’re always a bit unsure of the fitness coming into this first race of the season.

“It’s still very early and my season’s going to go all the way until December, so it’s the start of a long year.

“I’m dealing with a little bit of a lower-leg injury at the moment, so I just want to see how that feels throughout the run. If I need to make a call to pull out, then that’s why I might have to do it.

“But I’m hoping that I do not have to do that, and then I can get through the 18K. One thing with the conditions, hard as they are, is that the run won’t be as fast, so that will definitely help me.

“Coming off an injury, I haven’t done a lot of the speed work necessary to run faster in the 18K distance. The challenging conditions and the humidity slows everything down; hopefully, that swings it in my favour coming off an injury.”

In conditions she likened to a typical Bermudian summer, Duffy is anticipating a demanding course, especially on the bike.

“Racing in Singapore, it’s very hot and humid,” she said. “It’s going to be a tough race; the course is also pretty hard.

“It’s a challenging bike course; it is hard to believe there’s some hills here. Singapore is very flat, but there’s some pretty big highway overpasses that we’re riding on, so it creates quite a bit of elevation throughout the nine-lap bike course.

“That, combined with it being hot and humid, and possibly some rain, could make it a pretty tough day out there.”

While Knibb, the world champion, will not be at the Marina Bay start line, the Bermudian is expecting tough competition.

“The field here is pretty strong with usual characters from last year, the likes of Ashleigh Gentle, Julie Derron,” said Duffy, who at No 9 in the world rankings is the fourth-highest rated triathlete in the field.

“Taylor Knibb is not racing this weekend so that does change the race, but Lucy Charles-Barclay is back from injury, and she’s someone that can shake up a race. There’s definitely a lot of strong women, so it will make for a hard day of racing.”

In preparation for the new season, the 2021 Tokyo Olympics champion dedicated a lot of time on the bike out in South Africa.

“My off-season’s gone pretty well,’’ she added. “I was able to put in more hours on the bike, so I’m hoping that shows tomorrow in the race.

“It’s been a pretty smooth summer in Stellenbosch. It was hot over there; hopefully, that helps me with the heat.

“Overall, I would say I’m happy with how the off-season’s gone. I’ve been able to train a fair amount. I’ve had a few injury bumps on the road, so my running is not quite where I want it to be.”

Ahead of the race, the 37-year-old showed her hilarious side on Instagram when she shared about a shoe mix-up before a sponsor stepped in to assist.

“Arrived in Singapore and realised that I packed two different race shoes. I packed one Metaspeed Sky Paris and one [new version] Metaspeed Sky,” Duffy posted.

“In all my years of racing, I’ve never made a mistake like this. Luckily, @asics came to the rescue and sent me two of the correct shoes — new colour way too. Thanks @asics and @bocesar3 for making it all happen.”

• Racing gets under way at 3am Bermuda time. Viewers with access can follow Dame Flora Duffy on Eurosport, TNT Sports, discovery+ and beIN Sports