Flora Duffy has been the dominant force in the women's ITU World Triathlon Series during a stunning 2017 campaign that has seen the Bermudan win five of the eight events so far and it would be a brave punter who backs against the brilliant 29-year-old becoming world champion with yet another victory in the series' Grand Final in Rotterdam this weekend.
Duffy has racked up wins in Yokohama, Hamburg, Leeds, Edmonton and Stockholm during the series and she now stands at the summit of the WTS rankings with a formidable 4,000 points to her name. The points system for the ninth and concluding Grand Final in Rotterdam ensures that there are more points on offer than in previous events for the competitors on Saturday, with the winner awarded 1200 points in the Netherlands, although it would take a cataclysmic turn of events for Duffy to be denied back-to-back world titles.
The 2016 WTS champion knows that she only needs to finish seventh or better on Saturday to be crowned world champion once more and it is fanciful to think that she is anything other than a shoe-in for glory as she hasn't finished any worse than fourth in a WTS event since the Grand Final in Chicago two years ago, while she hasn't featured outside of the top-two in her six WTS appearances during 2017.
Can Anyone Stop Duffy?
Quite simply, Duffy has been the stand-out performer in the world again this year as an athlete who had always been regarded as an excellent swim-biker has brought her running on leaps and bounds during the last 24 months to leave the rest trailing in her wake. Her dominance is not only physical either as she appears to have a mental advantage that the rest are struggling to combat, with the 'Flora Fear Factor' leaving its mark on plenty, particularly during the bike leg of events this year.
Duffy's tally of five WTS wins for the campaign is a feat that has only been matched by the great Gwen Jorgensen, who won five events en route to becoming world champion in 2014 before romping home with seven titles when securing the overall crown in 2015.
It is perhaps true that the competition hasn't been quite so fierce this year as only two of the athletes to finish in the top-ten of the triathlon at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro were present during Duffy's stunning romp to victory in Stockholm a few weeks ago but the Bermudan can only beat what is put in front of her.
Of her rivals, Ashleigh Gentile has been admirably consistent with a win in Montreal and podium finishes at the Gold Coast, Hamburg and Stockholm this season, and Andrea Hewitt is the only other athlete to have won a WTS event this year thanks to her hugely popular success in Australia.
Meanwhile, the 2013 WTS winner, Non Stanford, has endured an injury disrupted year, as have fellow Brits, Jodie Stimpson and Vicky Holland, while Helen Jenkins, the 2008 and 2011 ITU world champion, has taken time out from the sport for the birth of her first child.
Olympic gold medallist Gwen Jorgensen has also taken a year off due to pregnancy and there will be the mouth-watering prospect of the American resuming her battle with Duffy in 2018. For now, it is the Bermudan who has enjoyed a serene ascent to the top of the 2017 WTS rankings and she can secure her second successive world title by confirming her dominance in Rotterdam on Saturday.
