Beth Potter

With her running and triathlon ability having combined in perfect unison, Potter made headlines worldwide in 2021. Just a week after a standout performance saw Potter produce a surprise victory in the Arena Games London, she ran a world record time of 14:41 on the road for 5km to stun the world of athletics too. Potter isn’t exactly new to the pro athlete game, having already been to the Olympics as a runner before transitioning to triathlon. Potter is an experienced Super League athlete having finished fourth in the 2021 and 2022 Championship Series’ and taking the inaugural esports triathlon World Title at Arena Games Triathlon powered by Zwift 2022.

›

She grew up in Bearsden in Scotland and ran as a junior for Victoria Park Glasgow, inspired by her father, Alex, also a runner. Potter enjoyed success quickly, picking up several junior titles in cross country and on the track, and combined her running with swimming. Her move to Loughborough University saw her pedigree develop further, and in 2014 she moved from being a junior to a senior and worked with coach Mick Woods.

Potter represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in her home city of Glasgow and then followed that up by qualifying to run for Great Britain over 10,000 meters at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where she finished 34th. The idea that she could be more successful in triathlon than track running had already been going around Potter’s head, but a chance meeting with the Brownlee brothers in Rio convinced her to give it a go.

During her Commonwealth and Olympic years, Potter had been working as a teacher but decided to quit so she could move to Leeds and focus fully on triathlon. She was given an invite to live with Jonny Brownlee, which she did for a year, learning from one of the sport’s biggest stars.

Without any funding and with run sponsors now leaving the scene, Potter initially lived off of savings and really focused on improving her biking. She did that, and slowly but surely, her results improved before she produced a seismic shock in winning the European Championships in 2019.

Potter was on an upward curve in 2020 despite the enforced lay-offs of COVID, and since has only gone from strength to strength. Earlier in the year, she took the first esports triathlon World Title at Arena Games Triathlon. She then enjoyed more success, taking a bronze medal while representing Team Scotland, at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

Beth has followed up on her successful 2022 season already this year, taking victory at the opening race of the 2023 World Triathlon Championship Series in Abu Dhabi, followed by winning the 2023 Super League Triathlon Arena Games Triathlon Powered by Zwift finale in London.