Paris triathlon: “I probably had the worst day of my career,” says GB’s Kate Waugh

Finishing 15th in your first Olympic Games is not to be sniffed at, but when you’re the reigning supertri champion and a runner-up at the 2023 Grand Final then your expectations come a bit higher.

Kate Waugh struggled to hold back the tears when we spoke to the 25-year-old straight after finishing the Paris Olympics, overwhelmed at what she’d just experienced.

“I’ll definitely never forget this day, it was incredible,” said Waugh. “I fought till the end and the crowds were incredible.

[But] I definitely didn’t have my best day. I probably had the worst day of my career, which was not the day to do it. It’s the girls I race day in, day out, and it’s my worst result against these girls in a long time, so yeah, of course I’m disappointed.

“I’ve shown I have medal potential in the past, so to not even be in the fight is obviously extremely disappointing, but, yeah, I’m hungrier than ever and I’ll be back better than ever.”

Waugh could be seen working working with USA bike powerhouse Taylor Knibb in the chase pack throughout the 40km bike leg.

“We completely blew our legs off trying to minimise the gap and I’m proud I did that today. It was a huge group of girls just sitting on.

You work so hard day in day out and you’re just willing to sit at the back of the bus. It’s just not the way I want to race. I’ll never race like that. I’ll always fight for it.

“But I crossed the line knowing I couldn’t have done anymore. So that’s all I can do.”

Waugh’s result saw her finish third and last Brit behind Georgia Taylor-Brown in sixth and Beth Potter in third for bronze.

“I’m so happy for Beth. She’s a fighter. I trained with her when she first started triathlon and I could tell she was hungry for it. It’s truly inspiring. So hopefully I can come back one day and do the same.”

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Liz Barrett 220 Deputy Editor

About

220 deputy editor Liz Barrett started work on the magazine in 2007 as staff writer. Since then, she’s reported live from almost every major triathlon across the globe, including the Ironman World Championships, 70.3 Worlds, six ITU Worlds, Challenge Roth, the 2014 and 2022 Commonwealths, the London and Paris Olympics and the Rio Paralympics, to name but a few. Name a pro and chances are she’ll have interviewed them, so, unsurprisingly, she’s our go-to pro-athlete expert on the team. When not covering races, you’ll find her whipping words into finely-crafted shape for both the magazine and website.