As 2024 rolled in, there were rumours that Bermuda’s greatest athlete was on the verge of retirement.

Dame Flora Duffy, Olympic champion at Tokyo 2020, was struggling to recover from a persistent knee injury to defend her women’s triathlon title in Paris.

But, thanks to some top-level medics and the heart of an undoubted champion, Duffy fought back from 18 months on the sidelines to get to the start line in August.

In front of thousands lining the course, it appeared that Duffy could pull off the impossible and become a double Olympic champion after just a few weeks of training.

The 36-year-old led after the swim in the controversial polluted River Seine and went clear during the bike leg before being hauled back, eventually crossing the line fifth to end two decades of chasing, and fulfilling, her Olympic dreams.

Duffy’s legacy is inarguable, and despite her disappointment at ending 2024 without another Olympic medal, she has had time to reflect on her greatest achievement.

“The most meaningful thing of this whole journey is to see what the sport of triathlon is doing in Bermuda and seeing the excitement of the children that are getting into the sport and taking part in the local races,” Duffy said.

“Any children in sport believing that they can go to the Olympics and place on the podium is the bigger picture and legacy that I am proud of leaving and helping to create.”

Duffy was one of eight athletes representing Bermuda in Paris, alongside triathletes Erica Hawley and Tyler Smith, triple jumper Jah-Nhai Perinchief, sailor Adriana Penruddocke, swimming siblings Jack and Emma Harvey, and rower Dara Alizadeh.

A month later, boccia player Yushae DeSilva-Andrade came closer than Duffy to winning a medal, and the first at the Paralympics for Bermuda, when finishing fourth in Paris after losing the third-place match to Japan’s Harumi Endo. Wheelchair sprinter Jessica Lewis finished fifth in the T53 100 metres and seventh in the T53 400 metres.

On the local front, it has been a year of promotions for cricketer Terryn Fray after he was appointed captain of the national team and Somerset’s Cup Match side.

Already captain of Bailey’s Bay, Fray is a calm, authoritative presence and his elevation to two of the sport’s biggest roles could have hardly gone better.

Somerset continued their dominance in the Annual Classic, with Dion Stovell again playing a starring role in a 226-run victory over St George’s.

Stovell, who scored back-to-back centuries in 2022 and 2023, this time starred with the ball, taking 12 wickets in the match, with his seven for 27 in the first innings the tenth-best bowling figures in the history of Cup Match.

The 39-year-old’s heroics came after Somerset opening batter Kamau Leverock took the game away from St George’s on the opening day with a sparkling knock of 153.

Just four months after lifting the Cup Match trophy with Somerset, Fray held his arms aloft once more, this time picking up the prize after Bermuda’s success in the first stage of qualifying for the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which will be held in India and Sri Lanka.

While many will argue that Bermuda did as expected by remaining unbeaten in the Americas Sub-Regional Qualifier against Belize, Panama, Surinam, Brazil, Mexico, Cayman Islands and Bahamas after their first game against hosts Argentina was washed out, this was proof that Bermuda are still the best of the rest in the region.

The next stage of the qualifying process will be held in Canada in September 2025, when only one team will join United States at the T20 World Cup as Americas representatives.

In the domestic leagues, Fray’s Bailey’s Bay ended St George’s dominance of the Athene T20 Premier Division, but were beaten in the knockout semi-finals by their chief rivals, who completed a double by winning that competition to go with the 50 Overs Premier Division.

The island’s best footballer, Nahki Wells, returned to the national team with a bang after scoring a first-half hat-trick in a 6-1 win over Dominica in a Concacaf Nations League match in October.

Under head coach Michael Findlay, who has been in the job for 15 months, there can be no denying the progress made, with Bermuda winning four of their six Nations League matches and finishing as group runners-up to Dominican Republic.

Their performances, which included two victories over Dominica and two over Antigua & Barbuda, set up a two-legged play-off against Honduras in March 2025, with a place at the Concacaf Gold Cup at stake.

North Village and PHC ensured there was a thrilling finish to the domestic Premier Division 2023-24 season, with the final league match a winners-take-all clash between the island’s two best teams.

Moved to Flora Duffy Stadium, the game lived up to the pre-match hype with two goals from 20-year-old Joshua Joseph and a strike from Enrique Russell securing a 3-2 win and a thirteenth league title for PHC.

There are also plenty of promising signs for the future, with some of Bermuda’s younger teams impressing in regional competition.

The island’s swimmers picked up 11 medals, including two golds, at the Central American and Caribbean Swimming Championships in Mexico in June and 24 medals at the Carifta Aquatics Championships in April.

Jake Brislane, 19, came home with two medals — a bronze and a silver — from the Carifta Games in Grenada in April.

Bermuda played their hearts out, but were agonisingly beaten 4-3 on penalties by Barbados in the Caribbean Football Union Under-14 Boys Challenge Series Tier II final in Trinidad & Tobago.

Their performance earned them a promotion to Tier I next year. Among their stars was Jeon Wolfe, who secured the Golden Boot with ten goals, including two hat-tricks. Midfielder Carter Thomas was named player of the tournament, while goalkeeper Xavier Thomas Bassett had the most clean sheets.