Flora Duffy appears on the screen for our Teams video interview in a halo of light. It's simply the Stellenbosch sun breaking through into the room where she's sitting for our call, but it's a fitting entrance for this most remarkable of athletes. A multi-sporting legend who has collected every major short-course title going, often repeatedly, in her 17-year career on the global sporting stage. Now, with that much-longed-for Olympic gold in her possession, we find a very contented Duffy in South Africa. Back on a well-trodden training ground, and finally able to let the last whirlwind of a year sink in. Let's get chatting...
220: Well, first of all, huge congratulations. What a year. Looking back on 2021, is there anything you wish had gone differently? Or was it really the perfect season?
FLORA DUFFY: Well, jeez, it feels like just such a blur, that whole year. But it's funny. My husband (former Xterra pro-Dan Hugo) says there were multiple times he thought I was right on the knife's edge of doing a bit too much. But somehow I managed to just stay right in that place of extreme fitness without going over. If I had to change one thing... I hurt my back in April. It lingered for about eight weeks, which was really very stressful because that was very close to the Olympics. So it would have been nice not to have had that stress. But I can't really complain. It wasn't easy, but it all went mostly to plan.
220: You mentioned being on the knife's edge... the elite racing schedule is now so jam-packed from season start to season finish. How do you pick your races and avoid burnout?
この記事は 220 Triathlon の April 2022 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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この記事は 220 Triathlon の April 2022 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
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