Kate Waugh

The psychology student from Gateshead who trains at Leeds also has useful Super League Triathlon experience to draw upon, having taken part in both the Enduro and Triple Mix formats in Jersey in 2018, and competed in the Arena Games – where last year she finished seventh in London and sixth in Rotterdam, and this spring returned to the UK capital to place eighth.

Waugh won the British Triathlon Female Elite Junior Triathlete of the Year in 2015 and her success continued into 2016, with a second place finish at the Quarteira junior European Cup before rounding off the year with a silver medal at the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in Cozumel in the combined junior-Under-23 mixed relay.

Crowned European junior champion in Kitzbuhel in 2017 and runner-up in the junior World Championship in Rotterdam later that summer to USA’s Taylor Knibb, Waugh then placed third on the Gold Coast the following year, before stepping up to finish fourth in the Under-23 Worlds in Lausanne in 2019.

A consistently high level performer and strong across all three disciplines, Waugh placed fifth in last year’s European Championship in Valencia, and her first appearance on the World Triathlon Championship Series in Hamburg was rewarded with a ninth place finish.

This year she has continued on an upward trajectory. Waugh travelled to the Far East for races in Tongyeong and Haeundae, where she finished runner-up to Commonwealth bronze medallist Beth Potter on both occasions. This helped gain her WTCS starts in front of a packed home crowd in Leeds and then a return to Hamburg, where she was also part of a very young British quartet that won the mixed relay alongside Sian Rainsley.

A fortnight later she flew to Spain to finish fifth in a World Cup in Pontevedra. A prolific racer, Waugh has also been in French Grand Prix and German Bundesliga action, having raced five times in just four weeks during one intensive spell at the end of July.