Erica Hawley is determined to perform strongly in her maiden appearance at the World Triathlon Championship Finals Wollongong in Australia on Sunday.

Hawley is making a return to Wollongong, where she raced last April on her way to securing Olympic qualification.

The 27-year-old, who is one of the 43 entrants for the women’s elite race, is counting on the two World Triathlon Championship Series competitions in Japan and France to carry her through.

“This is my first elite world championship so my goal is to be in the mix and execute a strong race,” Hawley told The Royal Gazette.

“I raced here in Wollongong last year and placed fifth in the World Cup, so I have good memories.

“This is quite a step up in competition but I hope that my learning experiences at other WTCS races this year [Yokohama and French Riviera ] have prepared me a bit for what to expect.

“All the top triathletes are here racing to be awarded the series title so if I can prove that I belong in the field with the very top, I will be happy with the outcome.

“The course is expected to be hard and technical, it’s a little different to the one from last year but some components are the same.

“The swim looks like it could be choppy. The bike has some technical sections and some hills, and the run is definitely going to hurt as it’s hilly and exposed in the wind.”

Since Wollongong has been on the Bermudian’s schedule for a while, she dedicated more than a month to get herself geared up. While she had a crash on the bike, Hawley feels that she is back to her best.

“I’ve had this race on the calendar for a while and I’ve put in a dedicated seven-week training block ahead of it.

“I decided to race in the French Riviera at the last-minute so that I could put in a bigger training block and I hope it pays off.

“Training has been going well for the most part. I had a crash on the bike a couple weeks ago that interrupted things but I’m back healthy and didn’t have too many missed days of training.

“I’m excited to race and then reset, take a break ahead of next year as the Olympic cycle starts again and I’ll be straight back into it.

“This year was about gaining experience at the WTCS level and I’m excited to get lots of racing experience on Sunday.”

Meanwhile, the Olympian’s mother, Julia Hawley, was pleased after she finished fifth at the World Triathlon Age-Group Aquabike Championships Wollongong on Thursday.

Initially, the island’s former top female triathlete was listed as fourth but that changed to fifth when the official results were updated.

“ I was extremely happy with the race and it exceeded my expectations so much,” the 62-year-old said.

“I hadn’t raced overseas for quite a few years so I really had no expectation other than having a good positive race. To come fifth and just miss the podium was beyond what I thought possible.

“The race was quite tough as the swim was really rough. But I had a really good swim and was so pleased with how I swam.

“Unfortunately, I took far too long in transition and couldn’t get my wetsuit off. I think I need Erica to show me how to do this a lot quicker.

My bike was great and again I was so happy with how I rode. I just used my road bike but most people had time-trial bikes.

“It was a bit windy, so it was tough for sure, but I had a great day and I was so happy with my result.”