Dame Flora Duffy Excited To Race Again
[Written by Stephen Wright]
Dame Flora Duffy admits her return to competition has seemed like a “never-ending road” as she prepares for her first race in 18 months at the World Triathlon Championship Series [WTCS] Yokohama in Japan tomorrow [May 11].
Duffy, who hopes to defend her Olympic title at the Paris Games this summer, wrote on Instagram today: “I’m back racing tomorrow!
“It’s been a long, hard and what felt like a never-ending road back from injury, but I did it!
“Not feeling quite as fit as I would like, but regardless, it’s a big win to stand on the start line tomorrow.
“It’s been over 500 days since I last raced, so hopefully, I remember what to do!”
The 36-year-old, a four-times world champion, hopes to come through the standard-distance race [1.5-kilometre swim, 40km bike and 10km run] unscathed and plans to race in the WTCS Cagliari, Italy, on May 25 – her final outing before Paris.
Duffy’s previous appearance came at the World Triathlon Championship Finals in Abu Dhabi in November 2022, when she claimed a record fourth world title.
She is 30th in the Olympic rankings ahead of the two-year qualification period, which ends on May 27.
In a recent interview with the Chasing the Burn podcast, Duffy said she contemplated calling time on her decorated career because of her lingering injury.
“I definitely said I should retire quite a lot,” Duffy said.
“Even if it may not have had real meaning behind it, at the back of my mind as this went on, I thought this could be the one injury I can’t heal, that this might be it.
“I went to see a doctor to see if my knee had improved because I was at the point of retiring.
“To me, it felt like a miracle because he gave me an injection, and two days later, all of the residue pain had gone.
“By this point, it had been a year of severe knee pain, and in my mind, it felt like this was the rapid decline of my career.
“I knew with my knee that I couldn’t get too excited, but it definitely gave me some hope for the first time in a long time.”
