Georgia Taylor-Brown: Background, career highlights, quotes
Georgia Taylor-Brown is one of the world's finest triathletes, but what's her story, and how did she come to win two Olympic medals in 2021? It's time to find out…
One of the most consistent triathletes in the elite ranks, Georgia Taylor-Brown is no stranger to the winner’s enclosure, whether individually or as a crucial member of national relay teams.
European titles, world titles and Olympic titles feature on her CV. And there’s still time to add more to the pile. For now though, it’s time to take a deep dive into the British ace’s career so far.
Who is Georgia Taylor-Brown?
The fates were probably decided at an early stage. Born in Manchester to an international runner father and a national-level swimmer mother, it was surely inevitable that Georgia Taylor-Brown would move into a sport combining the two.
Or two sports, in fact. Initially it was duathlon, with the teenager claiming the world junior title in France in 2012, the same year she took the European junior triathlon crown (which she would retain in 2013).
By then, Taylor-Brown had moved to attend university in Leeds, the hotbed of British triathlon. Since 2017, she’s been a staple of the WTS circuit, a model of consistency who’s rarely far from the podium.
Her adopted hometown has been a particularly happy hunting-ground, with a silver in 2018 and a gold the following year. In 2020, Taylor-Brown took the WTS title, winning a single-race, sprint-distance shoot-out in Hamburg.
A regular – and regularly high-performing – member of the GB team, Taylor-Brown has been an invaluable part of the mixed relay squad, no more so than in 2021 when the GB foursome surged to golden glory.
With Taylor-Brown joined by Alex Yee, Jonny Brownlee and Jess Learmonth, an invincible team was forged. The gold went into the suitcase home, joining the silver she won a few days earlier in a dramatic women’s individual race.
Taylor-Brown’s glorious 2021 was capped by Super League Triathlon success in Malibu. Having finished second in all four races, she pipped her compatriot and friend Jess Learmonth to the title. As ever, consistency wins the day.
In 2022, she started the year strong with several WTCS wins and podium finishes to lead at the half-way point. Then in July, in a repeat of Tokyo, she took silver behind Flora Duffy’s gold at the Commonwealth Games.
She reclaimed her Super League title in October, before facing Duffy for a duel in the desert for the World Triathlon crown. She couldn’t quite match the Bermudan’s brilliance, however, but still ran in for an overall series’ second place.
Injury destroys her 2023 season, but she’s back in time, and back on form, at the start of 2024 to take one of the three hottest tickets in tri – a place on the GB women’s Olympic team for Paris.
How old is Georgia Taylor-Brown?
Georgia Taylor-Brown was born on 15 March 1994, making her 30 years old.
Georgia Taylor-Brown’s career highlights
June 2013: The best junior in Europe – again
In Alanya in Turkey, Taylor-Brown wins her second consecutive European Junior title, the same year she won silver in the World Junior Championships. Two days later, she also takes gold as part of the British mixed relay team. A career at the sport’s highest level surely awaits.
May 2017: Announces her arrival on the elite scene with masterful Madrid race
No hint of nerves as Taylor-Brown pulls up a seat at triathlon’s top table. Her debut elite win comes in a World Cup race in Madrid, where she takes a comfortable victory with almost a minute to spare over the rest of the field.
June 2018: Hometown cheers for a first WTS podium
In her adopted hometown of Leeds, Taylor-Brown secures her first WTS podium place, finishing second behind compatriot Vicky Holland. A double dose of bronze in the Canadian races – Montreal and Edmonton – allows her to finish third overall in the series.
June 2019: Twelve months later, GTB is the Leeds number one
Having come second in last year’s race, Taylor-Brown delights her home crowd with her maiden WTS race win in Leeds. As per 2018, her consistency across the season gives her another third-place finish overall at season’s end.
September 2020: Taylor-Brown cruises to world champs glory
With the WTS series cut down to a single race because of the pandemic, a new course in Hamburg is the location for a sprint showdown. The Englishwoman shows her class on the run, easing away from the pack after just a kilometre. The result is never in question.
July 2021: A case of ‘if only’ at the Olympics
Disaster strikes at the Tokyo Olympics when Taylor-Brown suffers a flat tyre on the final lap of the bike leg. Extraordinarily, she reels everyone back during the run – all except Flora Duffy, who holds on for Bermuda’s first Olympic gold. Taylor-Brown’s silver is all the more remarkable as, 12 weeks earlier, a leg injury left her on crutches.
July 2021: The tag-team converts silver into gold
Great Britain’s formidable mixed relay team – Jessica Learmonth, Jonathan Brownlee, Taylor-Brown and Alex Yee – show their collective class as they masterfully distance themselves from the rest of the pack to add gold to Taylor-Brown and Yee’s individual silvers.
September 2021: Ends the year as the best in class
Proving she’s one of the greatest short-course athletes racing at present, Taylor-Brown takes the overall Super League Triathlon title in Malibu, after an intense month of four, back-to-back races across the globe.
January 2022: Another gong to add to the collection
In the New Year’s Honours List, Taylor-Brown is appointed an MBE for services to triathlon, specifically winning those two Olympic medals in Great Britain colours.
May 2022: Wins the first World Triathlon race of the year
Takes her first win in Yokohama ahead of Duffy in third to lead the championship series standings.
June 2022: Summer medal haul
It’s silver (Leeds mixed individual), silver (Leeds WTCS mixed relay), gold (Montreal WTCS) and silver (Montreal WTCS mixed relay) as GT-B displays superb consistency pre-Commonwealths.
July 2022: Silver on a “flat day”
Adds silver to Team England’s medal tally just a few hours after teammate Yee wins gold in the men’s Commonwealth Games triathlon. Admitting at the finish line that she “just didn’t have it today, I’m just a bit lethargic”, she’s still thrilled to take second in her first-ever Commies.
Two days later she upgrades to gold in the mixed relay.
September-October 2022: Super League defence
The defending Super League champion wins the second and fourth rounds of the 2022 series in Munich and Toulouse following a third-place finish in the opening round in London.
A crash on the bike in the third round in Malibu still sees her finish third. A final win in Saudi Arabia secures her second consecutive title.
October 2022: Wins in Cagliari
Uses her destructive run speed to take her third WTCS victory of the year in Sardinia.
November 2022: Finishes second in the world
Goes into the Grand Final in Abu Dhabi leading the series, but Duffy is only 96 points behind her. Whoever finishes in front, wins the title – Duffy does, to make history with world title number four.
May 2023: Back on podium form
After a slow start to the 2023 season (15th in Abu Dhabi and 7th in Yokohama), Taylor-Brown finds form to return to her rightful place atop a podium with a win in Cagliari, her second consecutive Sardinian crown.
March 2024: Returns to a podium
After almost nine months to the day since her last race (Montreal, June 2023, where she placed seventh), thanks to injury, Taylor-Brown heads to the Europe Triathlon Cup Quarteira, Portugal, where she finishes third behind Cassandre Beaugrand and Lisa Tertsch.
A week later she hops over to Lievin in France for an Indoor Cup, and trades up to silver behind Laura Lindemann.
May 2024: Top 10 in Cagliari
Can’t make it three in a row in Sardinia but a solid sixth hints a return to the pointy end of WTCS racing. But is it enough to make that Paris squad?
June 2024: Paris calling
The news is finally announced – Taylor-Brown has made it on to one of the most competitive women’s teams in triathlon history for the Paris 2024 Games.
Georgia Taylor-Brown quotes
On her post-pandemic WTS overall title in 2020: “I wasn’t confident at all. I didn’t really expect much from myself. I was just grateful to be able to race again.”
On that flat tyre in the Tokyo Olympics individual race: “I didn’t know what to do, so I just ride out on the flat. It was panic mode, but it paid off.”
On being the third leg of the victorious mixed relay team in Tokyo: “I knew I had to give everything in that last run lap and gives as big a gap as I could to Yee Boy!”
On Super League Triathlon success in 2021: “In Super League, it’s all the small things. If you get a good transition, that can make the race for you.”
On her Commonwealth Games silver on debut: “I dug deep and found a little bit extra to get me up the hills but silver was all I could do today. But I’m super happy for my first Commonwealth Games.”
On missing out on her first full-series World Triathlon title in 2022: Gave it my all but it wasn’t enough! Lost for words & lost in emotions; I’m not sure how I feel right now and I need time to process this long and testing year, but I do know that I’m proud of me. I’m physically, mentally and emotionally drained, so for now, a month of looking after G.”
What next for Georgia Taylor-Brown?
Racing her second Olympics for Team GB, in Paris.
Top image credit: Leon Neal/Getty Images
Nige Tassell
Freelance sportswriter 
