Flora Duffy believes she is a totally different athlete from a year ago as she bids to become Bermuda’s first professional triathlon world champion in Maui, Hawaii tomorrow.

The two-times Olympian competed in her first Xterra World Championships in 2013, coming third, and has enjoyed a hugely successful off-road season in 2014, winning the Xterra US series as well as the Asia-Pacific Championships and the South African Championships.

It means Duffy goes into tomorrow’s Xterra World Championships as favourite despite the presence of Nicky Samuels, the defending champion from New Zealand, Barbara Riveros, of Chile, and Emma Garrard, of the US.

“Winning the US Xterra series has definitely boosted my confidence coming into Maui,” Duffy said. “Last year, I was coming off a stress fracture and maybe did two runs and was like ‘OK, let’s give this a go’.

“So I’m a completely different athlete to last year. I don’t know if that means I can beat Nicky or not but I think I will definitely be closer to her and there will definitely be a lot of back-and-forth competition between us.”

The prospect of making history for the Island is not something that phases Duffy, who finished a superb eighth at this year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

“Being a world champion is up there in any professional athlete’s to-do’s in sport,” she said, “particularly coming from Bermuda as we don’t have many. In fact, I don’t think there has ever been a world championship win at a professional level, maybe one or two age group, so I think it would be huge for myself and my country.”

Last year’s third place in Maui kick-started a career revival for the 27-year-old, who has benefited from a tough winter training camp in South Africa.

She added: “It’s been an unexpected ride [this season]. Coming into it I was still a little unsure of how many Xterras I would race. Obviously, finishing third here last year in my first attempt really inspired me to pursue it and opened me up to it a little bit more — and then I spent the winter in Stellenbosch.

“They have great trails out there and I happen to train with two guys that race Xterra so that kind of channelled me in the direction of racing more. I improved my technical skills and I thought ‘why not?’ I’m blown away by how well I’ve taken to the sport.”

Bermuda will also have two representatives in the age group races. Kent Richardson and Julia Hawley both qualified for the World Championships, with Richardson competing in the 55-59 category and Hawley lining up in the 50-54 race.