For Quebec’s Maira Carreau, NCAA triathlon opens the door to engineering degree and, hopefully, the 2028 Olympics

Even 10 years ago it wasn’t an option – using triathlon to foster both your education and pursuit of an elite career. Then triathlon was designated a women’s emerging sport in 2014. The NCAA gave the sport a 10-year window to prove it was sustainable, mandating that there needed to be at least 40 universities that offered a triathlon program. Cal Poly Humboldt started the 40th program in the US, signalling that NCAA Triathlon racing is here to stay.

Now athletes like La Prairie, Quebec’s (just outside of Montreal) Maira Carreau have the opportunity to get a college scholarship that provides them the opportunity to both pursue their athletic dreams, all while working towards a degree. In August Carreau joined the University of Denver Pioneers triathlon squad, alongside fellow Canadians Clara Normand and Alex Campbell on the nine-member team. And, while she’s racing up a storm for the Pioneers, she’s also pursuing a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Led by head coach Barbara Perkins, the Pioneers program was started in July, 2020, but the first season of racing got delayed because of COVID, so the team’s first season of racing was in the Spring of 2021. Last year Denver finished third in Division 1 at the NCAA championships. This year the team lost in a tiebreaker for the final spot on the podium, but the disappointment of an oh-so-close fourth-place finish was eased dramatically thanks to one outstanding performance by the freshman, Carreau.

Thanks to a stellar race in which she was in the lead pack through the swim and bike, then ran away from the rest of the field to a 10-second win, Carreau added her name to a long list of Canadians who have won the NCAA Triathlon National Championship. (Heading into this year’s race in Tempe, Arizona, three Canadians had won four championships over the years including Hannah Henry in 2017 and 2018, Kyla Roy in 2019 and Kira Gupta-Baltazar in 2021.) Thanks to Carreau’s performance five out of seven NCAA titles have been won by Canadians.

Canadian Maira Carreau takes NCAA win as Arizona State takes seventh-straight national title

Triathlon to swimming and cycling

After watching her father compete in the sport, six-year-old Maira and her older brother Lukas (who is now pursuing a pro cycling career over in Europe) told their parents they wanted to do a triathlon. She still remembers riding her little red mountain bike with her pink helmet.

After that, though, Carreau started swimming and for the next decade she would swim competitively through the fall, winter and early spring, then join her brother and compete in road cycling through the summer. She’d also run cross country while at school. As a 13 year old Carreau wanted to compete at the Quebec Summer Games, but was too young to race as a cyclist, so she decided to compete in triathlon. She made the complete jump over to multisport racing, though, once she finished high school. In 2019 she joined the Quebec junior program and became a full-fledged triathlete.

This summer Carreau won the prestigious 2023 World Triathlon Championship Series Grand Prix in Montreal, and even after she started school at  continues to represent Canada at international events – this fall she was 26th in the U23 race at the World Triathlon Championship Finals Pontevedra.

Better training environment

After joining Quebec’s elite program, Carreau found herself spending lots of time driving to school, then heading into Montreal to train.

“Now I wake up in the morning and five minutes later I’ve walked to the pool deck,” Carreau says with a smile.

While Carreau was tempted to look at Arizona State University’s powerhouse program (the school has won seven straight national titles), it was Norman who convinced her to check out the Denver program. She’s thrilled that she made the recruiting trip to Denver to check things out.

Mathis Beaulieu and Maira Carreau take Quebec Grand Prix in Montreal

“What I like here is the team,” she says. “We get along so well together. There are nine of us. The team is a bit smaller, but that’s part of why we’re so close to each other.”

“Balance” is important to Carreau, and she also enjoys the fact that the team is “not only focussed on triathlon.” A few weeks before the national championships the team did a camping trip to the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Southern Colorado. Carreau’s face lights up when she talks about the trip and the early morning trail run the team did while in the mountains.

Carreau remembers talking to her father about the potential of a swimming scholarship. While that didn’t pan out, she’s thrilled that the opportunity presented itself through triathlon.

“The opportunity is amazing,” Carreau says. “It’s going to bring so much exposure to the sport. A path to having good, strong girls on the elite circuit.”

Would she prefer to pursue the sport without going to school?

“It’s not worth the risk of not going to school for me,” she says. “It is great to be able to do both in an amazing environment.”

Olympic dreams

“Part of me wants to go to the Olympics,” Carreau says. “LA 2028 is my goal. I graduate in 2027 … but I’ll take it one year at a time.”

First things first, though. While she pursues that engineering degree, we’ll likely see Carreau compete at her first World Cup event in 2024, and no-doubt look to defend her title and work to help the team get back on the podium at the NCAA championships.

One of the biggest names in our sport right now, Taylor Knibb, graduated from Cornell University a few years ago and quickly ascended to the top levels of the sport. Knibb wasn’t competing in an NCAA Triathlon program, but athletes like Carreau could very well signal that there’s more than one way to become an elite triathlete.

Who knew you could do all that while becoming an engineer?