Kate Waugh

Kate Waugh is the defending supertri champion following an incredible breakthrough year in 2023 that also propelled her to Olympic selection ahead of the established Sophie Coldwell.

Waugh was in fine form for supertri with wins in Toulouse and NEOM cementing her dominance in the standings.

The psychology graduate from Gateshead decided on a different training focus, leaving the familiar surroundings of Leeds to join coach Paulo Sousa’s squad in Portugal in 2023. It resulted in fifth place in the Yokohama leg of the World Series in May before things got even better.

Waugh has been a longtime supertri convert having taken part in both the Enduro and Triple Mix formats in Jersey in 2018. She has also competed in the Arena Games – where in 2021 she finished seventh in London and sixth in Rotterdam, and has since returned to the UK capital to place eighth last year and 13th in April.

Progressing from domestic to international success in the sport, she won the British Triathlon Female Elite Junior Triathlete of the Year in 2015 and her success continued into 2016 as she rounded off the year with a silver medal at the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in Cozumel in the combined junior-Under-23 mixed relay.

Crowned European junior champion in Kitzbuhel in 2017 and runner-up in the junior World Championship in Rotterdam later that summer to USA’s Taylor Knibb, Waugh then placed third on the Gold Coast the following year, before stepping up to finish fourth in the Under-23 Worlds in Lausanne in 2019. Having finished 10th in the same event in Edmonton in 2021, she finally claimed the coveted Under-23 world title in Abu Dhabi in November following a breakaway on the bike with team-mate Jess Fullagar.

A consistently high level performer and strong across all three disciplines, Waugh is now gaining success at senior level, having placed fifth in the 2021 European Championship in Valencia and ninth on first appearance in the World Triathlon Championship Series in Hamburg.

Two second places behind Commonwealth bronze medallist Beth Potter in Tongyeong and Haeundae in the Far East helped gain her WTCS starts in 2022, including in front of a packed home crowd in Leeds and then a return to Hamburg, where she was also part of a very young British quartet that won the mixed relay alongside Sian Rainsley. After narrowly missing out in Pontevedra, a first World Cup podium was achieved in Bergen, Norway before the triumph in Abu Dhabi.

With the supertri title in the bag, Waugh finished second in the WTCS final in Pontevedra, a result that really proved she is among the elite.

Having earned a controversial nod for the Olympics, she finished 18th at her first Games.

Waugh is in a relationship with fellow Crown Racing athlete Max Stapley.