Watson, 38, finished third at the 70.3 national championships at Port Macquarie on the weekend, meaning she podiumed at all three national championships this season. She competes in the 35-39 age category.

Previously, she finished second at the standard and the sprint nationals at Mooloolaba and on the Gold Coast.

Waton's coach, John Hickey, has hailed her internal fortitude as she augments her natural talent by "working at higher levels than most people would be prepared to do for themselves".

Watson said she was "happy with how the season panned out". "Very happy with how everything's going so far."

Placing at the world championships in August "would be a dream", she said, but one that Hickey believed was obtainable based on her current form and her ninth placing at the worlds on the Gold Coast last year.

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Watson said: "I would love to place [at Lausanne]. But, look, I'm just happy to hopefully be at the pointy end of the field again."

Hickey praised Watson's ability to juggle motherhood and training as she extracted every ounce of talent from her body in pursuit of her ultimate goal: competing at the fabled Ironman World Championships at Kona, Hawaii.

"She works really hard, she's very diligent," he said. "She manages her three children and her husband, Peter [ Loveridge], very well to be able to fit in the training.

"She's put her confidence in me to be able to produce a program for her, which I appreciate," he added. "So we've been able to work really well [together] now for over a year ... We're now just working out a program for her to go to Lausanne."

At the 70.3 nationals, Watson came 16th overall, which Hickey said was "as big a result" as coming third in her age group.

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