2024 USA Triathlon Wrapped: The Top Triathlon Moments of the Year

In January, Charlotte, North Carolina, hosted the fifth annual Endurance Exchange, USA Triathlon’s premier industry-wide conference for endurance sports. Attendees networked and learned during the more than 30 live sessions presented by the industry’s top coaches, race directors and industry professionals.  

For 2025, Endurance Exchange is going regional, providing several convenient and more cost-effective opportunities across the country for learning and networking for race directors, coaches, and club leaders and members. Registration for 2025 Endurance Exchange Colorado Springs is now open! 

Early 2024 also brought the expansion of the NCAA Women’s Collegiate Triathlon program, with Warren Wilson College, the University of Indianapolis and La Salle University adding triathlon to their stack of sports. 

In February, triathletes swapped the wetsuits and swim caps for cross-country skis and stocking hats at the 2024 Winter Nationals in Breckenridge, Colorado, hosted in partnership with the Breckebeiner. Athletes competed in the Winter Duathlon National Championships (run-ski) and Winter Triathlon National Championships (rub-bike-ski), along with the Breckebeiner Nordic Marathon and Half Marathon. Sound exciting? Registration for 2025 Winter Nationals in Breckenridge is now open! Register today! 

At the end of February, the USA Triathlon Foundation received a record-breaking gift from the TriDave Legacy Trust, to support women’s NCAA triathlon becoming an official NCAA Championship sport. This impactful gift will support women’s NCAA triathlon for many years to come.  

In March, U.S. Elite and Para-Elite triathletes raced in Miami at the America’s Triathlon Championships with Mark Barr (PTS2), Carson Clough (PTS4), Owen Cravens (PTVI), guided by Ben Hoffman, Howie Sanborn (PTWC) and Melissa Stockwell (PTS2) all punching their tickets to the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games. Morgan Pearson, Darr Smith and John Reed swept the podium in the men’s race and Reese Vannerson, an up-and-coming U.S. junior elite triathlete who trains with USA Triathlon’s Project Podium, won his Junior category in Miami, showcasing his bright future in the sport. 

Collegiate clubs from across the country brought the party to Mission Viejo, California, in April for the Collegiate Club National Championships. Known as one of the most high-energy events in the country, nearly 1,000 athletes raced and cheered across the two days of racing. Queens University of Charlotte took home the overall team title for the third year in a row, while the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of California Berkeley took second and third, respectively. 

In early May, Gallaudet University broke barriers by becoming the first NCAA school to add Women’s Varsity Triathlon. Gallaudet, a private university in Washington, D.C., is the only advanced school of education for the deaf and hard of hearing and the only higher education institution in which all programs and services are designed to accommodate deaf and hard of hearing students. 

Following a showstopping performance in Miami, Morgan Pearson dazzled in front of a huge crowd at the World Triathlon Championship Series Yokohama, becoming the first U.S. man to win a World Triathlon Series event since 2009. His U.S. elite teammate Taylor Knibb won silver in the women’s race. That same weekend, Mark Barr, Hailey Danz, Kelly Elmlinger and Chris Hammer won their respective paratriathlon classifications, tallying four of six U.S. paratriathlon medals won in Yokohama. 

Just days after her Yokohama silver, Knibb showed her strong cycling skills, racing to victory in Charleston, West Virginia, at the 2024 USA Cycling Pro Road National Championships, qualifying her for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in road cycling. She’d go on to pull the extremely rare feat in Paris – racing for the U.S. Olympic Triathlon Team and U.S. Olympic Cycling team. 

This epic summer was just getting started. 

In June, USA Triathlon headed to Omaha for 2024 USA Triathlon Multisport National Championships Festival presented by Mutual of Omaha, a five-day event celebrating multisport’s diverse group of race formats. Athletes from all 50 states across the U.S. traveled to Omaha to compete for age group national titles in over 10 unique events. Multisport Nationals is headed back to Omaha, June 4-8, for more multisport racing in 15 events and you can register today! 

Nine U.S. paratriathletes earned national titles at the USA Paratriathlon National Championships in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin in July. The Paratriathlon Nationals Qualifier Series provides competitive race opportunities in the U.S. for the nation’s emerging paratriathletes who aspire to compete at the elite level. Participants in the series are able to gain experience racing at the national level and qualify for future USA Triathlon Paratriathlon National Championships. You can view the 2025 Paratriathlon Nationals Qualifier Series schedule here. 

Up-and-coming youth and junior triathletes raced in West Des Moines, Iowa, at 2024 Youth and Junior Nationals, with races for athletes aged 5-17. Jimena Renata La Pena and Project Podium’s Reese Vannerson won the women’s and men’s Junior Draft Legal National Championships, in addition to Luise Delgado and Graham Hummel winning the women’s and men’s Youth National Championships. 

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games! The heart of Paris hosted an iconic triathlon race course, as athletes swam in the Seine, biked on the cobbles of the legendary Champ de Elysee and finished on the blue carpet on the beautiful Pont Alexandre III bridge. Knibb, Pearson, Kirsten Kasper, Taylor Spivey and Seth Rider represented the U.S. as our strong team of Olympians.  

A rainy morning, slick road conditions and strong water current made it a less-than-perfect race day. Spivey and Rider led the U.S. teams in their respective individual events, placing 10th and 29th in the women’s and men’s races on the rainy Paris day.  

With no clouds in the sky on Aug. 5, the foursome of Knibb, Spivey, Pearson and Rider turned in a gutsy, thrilling performance to win Olympic silver in the Triathlon Mixed Relay. The race came down to an epic sprint finish, with Knibb turning in a legendary swim-bike-run leg to out-kick Great Britain’s Beth Potter by .005 of a second to win the medal, just one second behind Germany’s Laura Lindemann. That’s two-for-two now for the U.S. winning Olympic silver in the Mixed Relay in Tokyo and Paris. Now the race comes to home soil for LA 2028!  

Just three weeks after the Mixed Triathlon Relay showdown, it was time for U.S. Paratriathletes to race in the spotlight at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. With 19 paratriathletes, Team USA had the biggest team and they delivered. 

Grace Norman and Chris Hammer both took home gold in the women’s and men’s PTS5 category, Hammer winning his long-awaited first Paralympic medal. Hailey Danz and Allysa Seely went gold and bronze in the PTS2 category, while Mohamed Lahna and Mark Barr finished with the silver and bronze in the PTS2 category, their first Paralympic medals for Team USA. Carson Clough, newbie paratriathlete, took silver in the PTS4 category at his first Paralympic Games! Last, but certainly not least, Kendall Gretsch, dual Winter and Summer Paralympic Games athlete, earned silver in the PTWC classification. 

To count, that’s eight medals. The most in a singular Paralympic Games! 

The fun never stops at USA Triathlon, and just one week after the Paralympic Games ended, we headed to Atlantic City, New Jersey for Sprint and Olympic Distance Nationals, where our nation's top age group triathletes raced for national titles. For 2025, Sprint and Olympic Distance Nationals heads back to fan-favorite Milwaukee next August 8-10, and you can learn more about the event here. 

While Atlantic City brought racing medals, awards were also presented to the 2023 USA Triathlon Athletes, Coaches and Race Director of the year at the USA Triathlon Foundation’s “Celebration of Sport” Gala, presented by TicketSocket. Plus, the first-ever ALEXANDER award, which honors one NCAA student-triathlete who exemplifies excellence both on and off the course. Hailey Poe, North Central College triathlete, won the inaugural award! 

In a bittersweet "see you later” to professional triathlon, two-time Olympic medalist Katie Zaferes announced her retirement in early October, but it wasn’t goodbye forever. Zaferes announced a new position at USA Triathlon, coaching the new AUXO Collective group in North Carolina. This new group focuses on the elite development of U.S. triathletes in a daily training environment, based at the U.S. Performance Center in Charlotte, North Carolina! Applications to join this group are available now. 

Elite, Para Elite, Junior, U23 and Age Group Team USA athletes headed to Torremolinos, Spain for the 2024 World Triathlon Championship Finals. In total, over 400 athletes represented the U.S. over the weekend. An incredible team of over 1150 Team USA athletes competed at four World Triathlon World Championships in 2024, bringing home 116 medals! Events included Winter World Championships, Multisport World Championships, Duathlon World Championships, and World Championship Finals! 

In the elite and elite Para racing at Worlds in Spain, Reese Vannerson placed second at the Junior World Championships, while Grace Norman, Kendall Gretsch and Allysa Seely became world champions in their respective paratriathlon classifications. Notably, Norman, Gretsch and Carson Clough won the inaugural Para Mixed Triathlon Relay World Title, which became an official World Championships race this year after being contested for two years.

In one of the most thrilling championships of the year, the University of Arizona women’s triathlon team defeated seven-time national champion Arizona State University at the 2024 Women’s Collegiate Triathlon National Championship! This is the first Division I national title for Arizona, just two years after starting a program. In addition, Wingate University took home the Division II title, its first, led by Carla Larrabeiti, and North Central College won its third consecutive Division III title, led by Hailey Poe, who won her fourth consecutive DIII individual title. 

Notably, 18-year-old, Emma Meyers, became the first paratriathlete to compete at the collegiate level, signing to the Colorado Mesa University women’s triathlon team last Fall. You can read more of Emma’s story here. 

As triathletes and paratriathletes continue to rest up for the upcoming season, check back to the USA Triathlon website for important news and information. 

As we enter 2025, remember to Ignite the Spark within you and your community! Join USA Triathlon in 2025 as we prepare for an even bigger year! If you thought there was much to see in 2024, just wait until 2025. 

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year from USA Triathlon!