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After months of intensive training, including regular work-outs in a heat chamber, Flora Duffy is ready for the biggest race of her short career.

The talented 20-year-old takes on the best in the world in one of the Olympics' most grueling events at the Ming Tomb Reservoir on the outskirts of Beijing on Monday.

And though she believes this Games is all about the experience, she does harbour ambitions of following in the footsteps of Switzerland's Brigitte McMahon and Australia's Kate Allen as surprise winners.

"The last two Olympic Games have had complete shock winners, so you never know what can happen on the race day.

Heat chamber

"It's three sports, all it takes is someone to have a bad swim or a bad bike and they could be out of contention. Similarly, you could have a good day and everything could go your way."

Duffy, speaking from the Olympic Village on Wednesday, added that she had been in light training all week, having completed the bulk of her build-up in the U.K. prior to the event.

The intensive regime included regular sessions in a heat chamber which she describes as 'a little room about the size of a bathroom cubicle with only enough room for an exercise bike'.

The chastening hour-long sessions in the chamber with the heat cranked up to 35 degrees centigrade and the humidity at 85 per cent have helped her prepare for the gruelling conditions she expects to face in sweltering Beijing on Monday.

She said the hardest thing was remembering to replace the fluids lost in the punishing heat.

Now the training is pretty much complete, she's focusing on keeping cool, mentally, ahead of the big day.

"It's getting pretty close. I'm looking at it as another race. I've raced the same girls a lot before. It's very similar to a World Cup but with the added pressure of being the Olympics," she said.[[In-content Ad]]

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