Flora Duffy was in confident mood as she gears up for Saturday's ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in Rotterdam and the Bermudan identified Ashleigh Gentile as the big threat to her bid for back-to-back world titles. Speaking during Thursday's press conference, Duffy cut a calm and composed figure while talking to the assembled media about a sensational year that has defied even her own expectations.
"This year has turned out a bit better than I expected as I certainly didn't expect to, one, be in the lead and, two, to win five races," said Duffy following her victories in Yokohama, Hamburg, Leeds, Edmonton and Stockholm this season.
The 29-year-old heads the WTS standings with 4,000 points after finishing in the top-two in all six of the events she has competed in during 2017 and she now only needs to finish seventh or better on Saturday to be guaranteed a second successive world title.
Duffy is not resting on her laurels though, "so after Stockholm I flew back over to Colorado where I train. I'm a creature of habit so I prefer to train with my team in Boulder, see my regular massage therapist, see some friends, and it helps to give me a bit of balance. I don't have much of a balance in my life as it's 'generally swim-bike-run' but going home is a bit of an escape."
It is difficult to imagine the reigning world champion coming away from the Netherlands without another world crown as she hasn't finished any worse than fourth in a WTS event since Chicago in September 2015, albeit she recognises the threat of Ashleigh Gentile, who produced a storming effort to come from 25th position following the swim to eventually finish third in Stockholm last time out.
"The goal is to win the world title because it would be a bit of a letdown now if it all went wrong! There are a couple of races within the race so Ashleigh and I go into the race as the leading one-two so I imagine the battle for the world title will be between us as there is a bit of a gap to the rest of the top-ten, barring anything crazy happening.
"For me, it will be a case of executing exactly as I did in Stockholm and that has set me up pretty well. I'll be doing all I can to get across that line in a good position and win that world title."
There are 1,200 points on offer to the winner in Rotterdam on Saturday and Gentile starts the race 493 points adrift of Duffy, who has won five WTS events this season - a feat matched only by Gwen Jorgenson, who won five events en route to the overall title in 2014 and then seven in 2015.
The spectre of the legendary Jorgenson looms large over the sport as she prepares to return to triathlon in 2018 following the recent birth of her first child, Lemieux, and Duffy recognises that next year will be an even bigger challenge.
"In 2018 we're going to see Gwen Jorgenson come back, Helen Jenkins will come back, Nicola Spirig of course, and then there are people like Non Stanford and Vicky Holland who have had problems with illness and injury this year, and there are probably a few more that I'm missing there too. If you put all of those back into the equation then the races might play out in a similar way but there will be a different dynamic."
It promises to be tougher but there is the frightening prospect that Duffy can improve ("my run is still improving and there is still lots of space for improvement") and it wouldn't be a surprise to see the Bermudan bidding for a third straight title when it comes to the 2018 Grand Final.
