USA Triathlon Announces 2024 U.S. Elite Triathlon National Team

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — USA Triathlon today announced the 12 members of the 2024 U.S. Elite Triathlon National Team, the group of elite triathletes who will represent the U.S. on the international racing stage at World Triathlon Championship Series events and World Triathlon World Cup events throughout the 2024 season. 

Two U.S. elite triathletes on the U.S. Elite Triathlon National Team have already qualified for the Olympic Games Paris 2024, which are less than six months away. Both Taylor Knibb and Morgan Pearson qualified for Paris 2024 at the 2023 World Triathlon Olympic Games Test Event Paris last August.

The next and final auto-qualification opportunity for U.S. elite triathletes to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics is May 11 at the 2024 World Triathlon Championship Series Yokohama. One qualifying spot per gender is available for U.S. triathletes — the first U.S. athlete among the top three who has not already qualified will punch their ticket to Paris 2024. Any remaining spots for the team will be filled via discretion selection following the Yokohama event.

To learn more about Olympic and Paralympic qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, click here.

The full U.S. Olympic Team for the Paris 2024 Olympics will be named and announced in the summer.

2024 U.S. Elite Triathlon National Team Roster 

Elite Women

Erika Ackerlund

(Helena, Mont.)

Ackerlund began competing in triathlon during her freshman year of college at the University of Montana and quickly found success, becoming the overall national champion at the NCAA Women's Varsity National Championship in 2016. Ackerlund represented the U.S. at the 2023 Pan American Games, leading the U.S. women with a seventh-place finish.

Gwen Jorgensen

(Boulder, Colo.)

Jorgensen won gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics, becoming the first U.S. triathlete to win an Olympic gold medal. After starting a family and pursuing a professional running career following the Rio 2016 Games, Jorgensen announced her return to the sport of triathlon in November of 2022. During her first season back racing elite triathlon, Jorgensen in 2023 won four World Triathlon Cup races, including three in a row in Valencia, Karlovy Vary and Tongyeong.

Kirsten Kasper

(North Andover, Mass.)

Kasper is a veteran on the U.S. Elite Triathlon National Team and World Triathlon racing stage and placed 17th in the 2023 World Triathlon Championship Series standings. A former runner for Georgetown University, Kasper was introduced to the sport and USA Triathlon’s high-performance pipeline through USA Triathlon’s Collegiate Recruitment Program, which identifies and recruits top-level NCAA runners and swimmers to elite triathlon. 

Taylor Knibb 

(Boulder, Colo.) 

Already qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics, Knibb earned an Olympic silver medal as a member of the U.S. Mixed Relay team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games where, at 23 years old, she was the youngest woman ever on the U.S. Olympic Triathlon Team. In addition to racing on the draft-legal World Triathlon Championship Series circuit, Knibb also races non-drafting IRONMAN 70.3 events. In 2023, she defended her IRONMAN 70.3 world title and made her full-distance IRONMAN debut at the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, where she finished fourth to lead the U.S. women. Inspired by her mother, a longtime triathlete, Knibb started racing triathlon as a Junior, winning the 2016 and 2017 Junior World Championships and the 2018 Under-23 World Championships.

Summer Rappaport 

(Thornton, Colo.) 

A Tokyo 2020 Olympian, Rappaport swam and ran at NCAA Division I Villanova University. She began her elite triathlon career through USA Triathlon's Collegiate Recruitment Program, which identifies high-level NCAA athletes who have backgrounds in running and swimming. A longtime member of the U.S. Elite Triathlon National Team, Rappaport finished 11th in the 2023 World Triathlon Championship Series and had several standout performances in 2023, including a third-place finish at the World Triathlon Championship Series Montreal and fourth at the World Triathlon Sprint & Relay Championships Hamburg.

Gina Sereno

(Madison, Wis.)

An All-American runner at NCAA Division I University of Michigan, Sereno began her triathlon career through USA Triathlon's Collegiate Recruitment Program. In 2023, she represented the U.S. at the Pan American Games, helping the U.S. Mixed Relay team to a silver medal. Outside of triathlon, Sereno works as a system engineer for NASA.

Taylor Spivey

(Redondo Beach, Calif.) 

The highest-ranked U.S. elite triathlete at No. 4 in the world, Spivey turned in another consistent season in 2023, placing fourth in the 2023 World Triathlon Championship Series. She also placed fourth in 2022, third in 2021, and fourth in 2019. Spivey grew up competing in open water swim competitions as an ocean lifeguard and was a member of the USA Lifesaving International team from 2009-2014. She swam at NCAA Division I California Polytechnic State University and joined the school's club triathlon team to begin her triathlon career.

Katie Zaferes

(Cary, N.C.) 

Zaferes won bronze in the individual women’s race at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, becoming the third U.S. triathlete to win an Olympic medal, joining Jorgensen (gold, 2016 Rio) and Susan Williams (bronze, 2004 Athens). She also won Olympic silver as a member of the U.S. Mixed Relay team. After a standout steeplechase career at Syracuse University, Zaferes transitioned to elite triathlon through the USA Triathlon Collegiate Recruitment Program. The world champion in 2019, Zaferes returned to elite triathlon competition in 2023, following the birth of her first child.

ELITE MEN 

Kevin McDowell

(Geneva, Ill.) 

McDowell won Olympic silver at the Tokyo 2020 Games as a member of the U.S. Mixed Relay team and he placed sixth in the men’s individual race, the highest-ever finish for a U.S. man at the Olympic Games. McDowell grew up participating in USA Triathlon’s youth and junior elite triathlon circuit as part of the Chicago-based Multisport Madness Triathlon Team. He represented Team USA at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games and at the 2011 Junior World Championships. That year, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and took six months off to complete chemotherapy. A year later, he returned to elite competition. 

Matt McElroy 

(Huntington Beach, Calif.) 

McElroy is one of only three U.S. men — along with Morgan Pearson and Jarrod Shoemaker — to medal in a World Triathlon Championship Series race, with a silver in Leeds 2019. A three-time All-American runner at Northern Arizona University, McElroy was recruited to become an elite triathlete through the USA Triathlon Collegiate Recruitment Program. He and his wife had their first child in 2022. 

Morgan Pearson 

(New Vernon, N.J.) 

A Tokyo 2020 Games Olympian, Pearson competed as the anchor leg for the U.S. Mixed Relay team that earned silver. Pearson qualified for his second Olympics at the Paris Olympic Test Event in August of 2023. A seven-time All-American runner at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Pearson got his start in elite triathlon through the USA Triathlon Collegiate Recruitment Program. 

Seth Rider 

(Germantown, Tenn.) 

Rider grew up racing through USA Triathlon’s youth and junior elite triathlon circuit. A member of the U.S. Elite Triathlon National Team for several years, Rider has also raced off-road mountain biking triathlons, placing fourth at the 2021 XTERRA World Championships.