American Ironman champion Andy Potts named coach of U.S. paratriathlon team
Potts has a new gig after officially retiring from professional triathlon
USA Triathlon has named American triathlon star Andy Potts as the new coach of the organization’s Paratriathlon Resident Team. Potts recently announced his retirement from professional sport, officially ending a decades-long athletic career that saw him race at the Olympics, win an Ironman 70.3 world title, and conquer multiple Ironman races. Potts said it will be “an incredible honour” to coach the team.
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A stellar career
Potts had the kind of sporting career that few people ever come close to. He started out as a collegiate swimmer at the University of Michigan, where he became a six-time NCAA All-American. He also ran on the school’s track team in the latter years of his university career.
After graduating, he became a professional triathlete and proceeded to represent the U.S. at the Athens Olympics in 2004. In 2006, he finished the year ranked third in the world in the ITU, and a year later, he won gold at the Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro. That same year, he won the Ironman 70.3 world championship.Â
He spent the next decade and a half accumulating wins and podium finishes around the world. He won the famed Escape from Alcatraz six times, he amassed a whopping 32 half-iron wins, he won eight Ironman races, and he finished in the top-10 in Kona seven times (including two fourth-place results).
Potts continued to win races well into his 40s. He won the final race of his professional career at 70.3 Ecuador in 2022 when he was 45. He didn’t race much in 2023, and he didn’t compete at all last year, but he didn’t announce his official retirement from the sport until last week. Now, he has a new job.
Coaching paratriathlon
Potts may be just starting as a coach with the USA Triathlon team, but he does have a history in paratriathlon. In 2020, he was a sighted guide for American Paralympian Kyle Coon at the Tokyo Games. Potts helped guide Coon to a fifth-place finish in Japan.
His job will be much broader now than it was when he served as a guide, as he will be coaching a number of athletes on the Paratriathlon Resident Team. USA Triathlon created this team in 2018 to give the country’s top paratriathletes support and a training environment in which they could thrive.
“Coaching the USA Triathlon Paratriathlon Resident Team is an incredible honour and an opportunity I’m truly excited about as I transition from racing to giving back to the sport that has given me so much,” Potts said in a USA Triathlon press release. “I’m looking forward to helping these talented athletes grow, not just as competitors, but as people, by sharing the lessons I’ve learned throughout my career — the victories, the setbacks, and everything in between.”