Illawarra will host the first World Triathlon Cup on Australian soil since 2020, with the swimming-cycling-running event headlining the Wollongong Triathlon Festival on the weekend.

This year's Cup will play a key role in Australia's elite triathletes' dreams of competing at the Paris Olympics later this year, with points accumulated in the Gong counting towards qualification.

There will also be a strong contingent of international stars competing on Saturday.

The Cup is the last major triathlon event for Australian triathletes ahead of next month's World Triathlon Championship Series in Yokohama, Japan, which will be a crucial event in qualifying for Paris.

Among those elite triathlons hoping to impress this weekend is McShane.

McShane - who was born in Scotland before moving to Australia when she was 15 - is desperate to make her Olympic dream become a reality after being named as a team reserve for both the 2016 and 2020 Games.

The 33-year-old is no stranger to the Illawarra, having spent more than a decade based in the Gong.

Speaking to the media on Friday, McShane hopes that experience will give her an edge over her rivals this weekend.

"It's so nice to be back racing in Australia again, we haven't had any international racing here since pre-COVID," McShane, who is the nation's No.3 ranked female triathlete, said.

"This event is going to be my last race before the Olympic selection race for us in Japan in three weeks time. So it's a really important race to get one final hit-out against world class athletes to see where we are, and to maybe tweak our preparation towards the next few weeks.

"Wollongong is extra special for me because I spent 13 years here training. I moved to Wollongong when I was 18 years old for triathlon, I finished up school in country Victoria and I headed up to Wollongong as there was a big triathlon training group here.

"It's where I started my triathlon career and I'm now coming into the last few years of my career, so this is potentially one of my last ever triathlon races. So it's special to be here in Wollongong.

"The community here has always been so supportive of triathletes."

McShane - who has competed at two Commonwealth Games - will headline a strong elite women's field, with three of the top five Australian female triathletes taking the starting line in Wollongong.

She will be joined by Olympians Jaz Hedgeland and Emma Jeffcoat.

With only a handful of women set to qualify for Australia's Olympic triathlon team, the stakes have never been higher for the trio.

However, McShane said she had a greater knowledge of the Wollongong course than the rest of the field.

"We will swim in the harbour in Belmore Basin and then we ride and run up past the lighthouse. And the ride will also go past the Novotel and past North Beach," she said.

"It's going to be an extremely tough course and I think all of the locals know how hilly it is. Fortunately for us, we have the upper hand on the internationals because they didn't realise how hilly it was. So the moment I saw the course maps, I knew it was going to be a really tough course.

"Thankfully I have been able to prepare a little bit for that and hopefully we'll have the upper hand on some of the internationals who thought the coastline was nice and flat here in Wollongong."

There will also be a strong field of competitors in the elite men's category on Saturday, led by Olympian Matt Hauser - who has already booked his ticket to the 2024 Games.

Fellow Olympian Jake Birthwhistle and Commonwealth Games representatives Brandon Copeland and Luke Willian will also compete at the World Triathlon Cup, with the trio hoping to join Hauser on the Paris Games team.

"Qualification points are so valuable this time of year, as it comes to Olympic qualification, so I'm trying to put my best foot forward to try and get that spot," Willian, 27, said.

"Top eight in Yokohama will get the job done, so everything is geared towards that and I'm using this (event) as a good hit-out towards doing that. It would be amazing (to go to Paris), I unfortunately missed out in Tokyo. I was ranked so high and still didn't there, so I really want to get that spot.

"My goal for the last three-and-a-half years has been to get there and compete on the world stage."