220 Triathlon September 2025

My journey in triathlon started some 15 years ago now. I’ve competed in most distances in triathlon, swimrun, running and open-water swimming events over the years and mostly considered my experiences to be good ones. But as a woman competing in the sport, I have to admit I’d never closely considered how my experience might differ from the male one. A few months ago however, I came across the work of Bianca Fernandez-Clark and Sophie Powers and their eye-opening report ‘Closing the gender gap: tackling the underrepresentation of women in triathlon’ and it changed my perception. We explore the topic in detail this month (p30) and I’d encourage anyone linked to multisport to read it. By making tri more welcoming to all, we’ll improve the sport overall – and that…

THE BIG PIC Challenge Gdansk, Poland, gets underway on 22 June. Marcel Bolbat (GER) would set a new race record to win in 3:44:03, after closing a 2:30min gap on the run to second-place Louis Woodgate (GRE). Swiss Nina Derron – sister of Olympic silver medallist Julie – led from bike to tape, with a finishing time of 4:15:41.…

TIM HEMING Cutting through the spin of tri to address the issues that matter, Tim is a sports journalist who has written extensively on triathlon for the national press. Race organisations in triathlon are often criticised. They’re easy targets. Triathlon can be an expensive sport, the bigger brands carry more prestige, promise a premium experience, and charge higher entry prices. So, when customers aren’t satisfied, they can be vocal. But the organisations also listen to their communities, and in the past few weeks I’ve witnessed a number of examples that deserve acknowledgement. Let’s start with World Triathlon. In running its multisport World Championships in Pontevedra, older age-groups started in later waves and some athletes didn’t make the time cut-off. Initially, these results were annulled as per the rules, but met…

ROB STARR Rob Starr MBE is 56 years old and lives in Brighton. He was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at age 18, osteoporosis at 25 and arthritis at 30. He has run his own insurance business for 35 years, is a charity founder and an author. He was awarded an MBE in the 2025 Kings Honours list. My journey into triathlon began in 2014 when I was 45. Four years prior to this I was trying to raise some money for the Starr Trust, a charity I founded which supports young people. My plan was to run my first marathon, but it proved difficult to train because of frequent arthritic pain. As my training was along the seafront in Brighton I found myself often gazing out to sea in frustration.…

Q&A Career highlights While he’s yet to show true consistency, Morgan’s results still show world-beating class – not to mention those two Olympic medals… 8th, San Francisco T100, 2024 1st, Ironman 70.3 Indian Wells, 2024 2 × Olympic Games triathlon relay silver medallist (Tokyo, Paris) 1st, WTCS Yokohama, 2024 Morgan Pearson has helped the US squad (left) achieve two relay silvers The day Morgan Pearson decided to try his hand at triathlon must have been a celebratory one for the US Olympic selectors. A seven-time All-American in track and crosscountry at the University of Colorado, in 2017 he won his age-group at USA Triathlon’s national championships before turning pro the following season. Despite starting at the comparatively ‘old’ age of 24, Pearson has since proved a solid and safe pair…

Few triathletes have sparked quite as much attention as pro Taylor Knibb. The Ivy League-educated, Washington DC native, whose mother was an age-group long-distance world champion, started competing in swim, bike and run when she was 15. Her progression in the sport was swift, winning three world titles over the next five years. Known as much for her bike strength as her often hilarious, straight-shooting press interviews, 27-year-old Knibb now boasts a hugely impressive podium-finishes-to-race-starts ratio, with several jaw-dropping performances that will be studied by generations of budding tri stars for years to come. For example, when she finished second at the 2017 WTS Edmonton, to become the youngest podium finisher in World Triathlon history at just 19; when she won the 2021 World Triathlon Grand Final in Edmonton, beating…