Team USA Wins Silver in Mixed Relay Series Abu Dhabi

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Paris 2024 Olympic Mixed Relay medalists Taylor Spivey and Morgan Pearson teamed up with up-and-comers Erika Acklerund and John Reed on Sunday, Feb. 16 to win silver at the 2025 World Triathlon Mixed Relay Series Abu Dhabi.

The first Mixed Relay Series event of the 2025 season, Abu Dhabi featured fast-paced and strategic racing — and the U.S. showed its skill in the format. The quartet of Spivey, Reed, Acklerund and Pearson combined for a time of 1 hour, 32 minutes, 21 seconds, with each athlete completing a super-sprint triathlon before tagging their teammate.

Team Germany won gold in 1:32:05, with Italy claiming bronze in 1:32:24.

Spivey led off for the U.S. on Sunday in Abu Dhabi, which marked the first Mixed Relay Series event in the new Olympic quad. Teams racing in the Mixed Relay will compete in the order of woman-man-woman-man over the next four years in the lead-up to the LA 2028 Olympic Games.

A consistent, strong all-around performer, Spivey quickly put the U.S. in contention in her opening leg, tagging Reed with the U.S. in the top four with Germany, Belgium and Spain.

On leg two, Team Swiss, Great Britain and Portugal made a break, leaving Reed, Germany and Japan chasing 30 seconds back. By the end of his leg, Reed brought the U.S. closer to podium contention, tagging to Ackerlund.

Germany made its big move in the third leg, taking an 8-second lead, but Ackerlund powered the U.S. into the top three, giving way to Pearson to bring it home for the U.S. Pearson closed with a 21:45 split to secure the silver for the U.S. and add another Mixed Relay medal to the country's collection.

The U.S. won Olympic silver at last year's Paris 2024 Olympic Games, with Spivey and Pearson teaming up with Taylor Knibb and Seth Rider to capture the country's second Olympic medal in the event. Mixed Relay made its Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, with the U.S. winning silver (Katie Zaferes, Kevin McDowell, Knibb and Pearson).

In addition to the Olympic silver medals at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the U.S. has won several medals at the Mixed Relay World Championships, including the world title in 2016:  

2013: Bronze (Sarah Groff, Ben Kanute, Gwen Jorgensen, Cameron Dye)

2016: Gold (Gwen Jorgensen, Ben Kanute, Kirsten Kasper, Joe Maloy)

2017: Silver (Kirsten Kasper, Ben Kanute, Katie Zaferes, Matthew McElroy)

2018: Bronze (Kirsten Kasper, Ben Kanute, Katie Zaferes, Kevin McDowell)

2020: Silver (Taylor Spivey, Kevin McDowell, Katie Zaferes, Morgan Pearson)

2022: Bronze (Seth Rider, Taylor Spivey, Kevin McDowell, Summer Rappaport)

2025 World Triathlon Mixed Relay Series Abu Dhabi

300m swim | 6.9k bike | 2k run

Complete Results

1. Germany (Selina Klamt, Jan Diener, Tanja Neubert, Henry Graf), 1:32:05

2. United States (Taylor Spivey, John Reed, Erika Ackerlund, Morgan Pearson), 1:32:21

3. Italy (Alice Betto, Nicola Azzano, Bianca Seregini, Euan De Nigro), 1:32:24