Kate Waugh (born 13 February 1999) is a British triathlete competing internationally for Great Britain. She became the 2022 U23 World Champion, having won the 2022 World Triathlon Championship Series event in Abu Dhabi.[5]
In 2023 Waugh built on her success of the previous year with a series of top ten performances, notably in the World Triathlon Championship Series in Yokohama, where she was fifth behind British teammate Sophie Coldwell, before coming second to Beth Potter in the World Triathlon Championship Finals in Pontevedra.[6] Waugh also finished seventh in the Olympic Games Test Event for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, picking up a silver medal in the Mixed Team Relay.[7]
Waugh also competes in Super League Triathlon. She has competed in the Super League Triathlon Arena Games, both in London in 2021 through 2023, and Rotterdam in 2021, as well as the Championship series, where she secured her first win in Toulouse, France in 2023.[8]
In 2025 Waugh was selected as a Hot Shot for the PTO's T100 Traithlon. She won the very first event in Singapore with a record breaking gap to second place.[citation needed]
Early life
Waugh was born in Gateshead, and attended the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne.[9] She took part in her first triathlon "at the age of 8 or 9" after having played sports such as athletics, swimming, field hockey and gymnastics.[10] Waugh has cited the London 2012 Olympics, and the performances of Jessica Ennis-Hill, as inspiration for her goals of competing at the Olympic Games.[11]
Waugh credits her parents for encouraging her to maintain balance between her school work and triathlon events, which saw her win the 2017 European Junior Championships in Kitzbuhel on a Friday having flown into Austria the previous day after completing an A-level exam the previous day.[12][13]
Waugh studies Psychology at the University of Leeds, although her studies are currently on hold having moved to Monte Gordo, Portugal to focus on her athletic career.[14][1]
Career
Waugh's first major success came at the age of 15 at the Penza U23 Youth and European Championships Women Relay alongside Olivia Mathias and Sophie Alden.[15] She won the British Triathlon Female Elite Junior Triathlete of the Year award the following year, before coming 2nd and 3rd in the World Triathlon Junior Women's Grand Final in 2017 and 2018 respectively.[1][16][17]
In 2018, Waugh was added the British Triathlon Olympic Podium Potential team.[18]
A step up to the U23 category in 2019 saw further success, with Waugh coming 3rd in her first Olympic distance ITU World Cup race in Nur-Sultan before further success at the Grand Final in Lausanne, where she was 4th in the U23 Women and 2nd in the Mixed U23 relay alongside Alex Yee, Ben Dijkstra and Olivia Mathias.[19][20][21]
After a year affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which Waugh described as especially difficult due to missing out on " “the competitive environment, the buzz around competition and racing, training with my friends & training groups", Waugh returned in 2021 to secure back-to-back second-place World Triathlon Cup medals behind then training partner Beth Potter in Haeundae and Tongyeong.[22]
2022 saw Waugh's most successful year to date, with a third World Triathlon Cup medal courtesy of a bronze in Bergen, before ending her U23 career by winning the World Championship Finals in Abu Dhabi.[23]
In 2023, Waugh secured three top tens in elite events, before coming second in the World Championship finals to teammate Beth Potter,[24] ending up a career-high ninth in the World Rankings.[25]
In June 2024, Waugh was selected to represent Great Britain at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.[26] She competed in the women's triathlon at the Olympics, ultimately placing 15th.[27]
Super League Triathlon
Waugh first took part in the Super League Triathlon series in 2018 in Jersey, where she wore the white jersey. Waugh has competed in every edition of the London Arena Games since 2021, and secured her first victory in the Championships format in Toulouse in 2023, resulting in her leading the series after a 5th place in Canary Warf the previous week.[2][28]
In 2025 Kate Waugh was selected by the PTO as a Hot Shot for the middle distance Triathlon series, T100 Triathlon. The first event took place in Singapore on the 5th of April 2025. Waugh was part of the lead swim group, with fellow Britons Jess Learmonth and Lucy Charles-Barclay. She won with a 6 minute 41 second margin ahead of Austrian triathlete Lisa Perterer, Charles-Barclay in third place.[30]
In the second round in San Francisco, Waugh recorded another podium, finishing third to lead the series by 17 points.[31] Having skipped the third round in Vancouver, Waugh returned to the series in London, finishing second after being overhauled by Lucy Charles-Barclay in the final kilometres of the run. This left Waugh in 2nd place overall in the series, having finished on each step of the podium in her first three races.[32]
Personal life
Until March 2025, Waugh split her time between Monte Gordo, Portugal, and Font Romeu, near Odeillo in France with her then partner, the British triathlete Max Stapley.[14][33]
Waugh comes from a sporting family, with her great-grandfather having represented the All Blacks, a heritage which means Waugh also holds New Zealand citizenship.[34] Her father, Kevin, was a world-record holding hurdler, and received attention in 1998 for covering the Angel of the North with a Newcastle United shirt with the name and number of Alan Shearer on the back.[35]
She is sponsored by Specialized[36] having previously ridden Swift and Canyon Bicycles, as well as Orca wetsuits, nutritional product BOA Blast, and Fusion Sportswear.[37][10] In October 2023 she announced a partnership with Swiss athletic company On.[38] In March 2025 Waugh announced a sponsorship deal with clothing company Ryzon. Waugh has previously modeled for Adidas.[39]
References
1 2 3 "Kate Waugh". www.britishtriathlon.org. 29 August 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
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