At the Interstate Regatta at those same championships she represented Queensland for the women's national single sculling title and won the Nell Slatter Trophy.

She beat her fancied Romanian rival Maria Micșa and in the process became Australia's first ever female rowing world champion.

[1] Ferguson made national selection in the late 1980s and raced the lightweight single scull at Bled 1989 and Lake Barrington 1990.

1988 was considered to be her best chance of winning a medal but that year the Australian selectors decided not to send any female rowing competitors.

[1] She was named the 1985 Australian Athlete of the Year; in achieving the honour she beat fellow nominees Jeff Fenech and Allan Border.