Bermudian triathlete Erica Hawley has broken new ground with her first professional win on Saturday.

Hawley won the elite women’s event at the Americas Triathlon Cup in Montreal after a stunning performance to record the fastest time on the run leg among the 38 competitors.

Competing over the sprint distance, the 25-year-old completed the 778-metre swim in 10min 17sec, stayed among the front-runners on the 20.2km bike ride with a time of 30:03 and stormed home with a time of 16:53 on the run to beat Canadian athlete Maira Carreau by seven seconds in an overall time of 58:15.

Hawley, who picked up $1,500 for winning the event, has made no secret of her desire to try to claim a spot at the 2024 Paris Olympics and is thrilled to have landed her first professional title.

“It feels amazing to win my first elite world triathlon race,” she said. “I knew that I had a good chance of podiuming this weekend, but to win was a surreal experience.

“Racing at the continental cup level is the lowest tier in world triathlon so I approached this race feeling really confident. I think that at WTCS level I need to adopt this mentality that I really belong.

“I can take a lot of confidence away from this race. I would have never really expected to win but breaking that tape is a very cool feeling. I was pretty overcome with emotion at the medal ceremony and it really means that all the hard work and sacrifices are worth it.”

Hawley needed to break away from the pack on the run to seal the victory but was confident she had enough in the tank to get a gap on her rivals.

“The race ended up being a running race,” Hawley said.

“I had a decent swim, coming out in the top five, but unfortunately the pack came together with about 15 women.

“The course was very flat on the F1 course, and was just an out and back so I knew it would be hard to stay away in a break

“My running in training has been going great so I was quietly confident that I could do some damage on the run. For about 2.5km there was a group of five of us but I made my move then and decided to pick up the pace.

“I wasn’t sure what my sprint was like, so I went pretty early and hoped I could just hang on. It’s sometimes scary taking a risk like that but it gives me a lot of confidence and belief in my training and my ability for future races. This was my first time breaking 17 minutes in the 5km and that has been one of my goals this year.”

Hawley will next hope to build on this win in the World Cup series in Yeongdeo next month.

“My next race is a World Cup in South Korea on August 6,” she said.

“I am really excited for this event and I think it will be a great opportunity to do really well and improve my eleventh-place performance from Huatulco in the same series in June.”

It was a good day for Bermudian triathletes with Tyler Smith making it into the final of the Tiszaujvaros World Cup race.

Held over two days across the sprint distance, the event consists of a unique but traditional semi-final/final format that takes place annually in the Hungarian city with athletes needing to finish in the top nine in their semi-finals to confirm a place in Sunday’s final.

Smith finished ninth in the semi-final.

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