Running star wins first triathlon
Add another elite runner to the list of potential top triathletes!
It’s been a minute since U.S. steeplechaser Colleen Quigley, 31, graced running headlines; the former model, Bowerman Track Club athlete (that’s 2016 Olympic gold medalist Gwen Jorgensen running behind her at a practice in the photo above), national champion, Rio Olympian and world record holder (in the 4 x 1,500m relay) struggled with injury and change in 2021 and 2022, leaving the Bowerman and Nike and becoming the face of the running and yoga brand Lululemon. She’s been posting lots of swimming and cycling content on her Instagram, and on Saturday, Quigley won her first triathlon–the development/draft-legal sprint distance at the Tritonman event in San Diego.
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Quigley won the sprint-distance event (750 m swim, 20 km bike and 5 km run) in 1:05:59. Not surprisingly, her best result was in the run, she had the day’s fastest split of 19:02 (3:48 per km pace). She had the eighth-fastest bike (34:04) and came out of the water in 18th (11:33). Her first transition was 40 seconds, and her second was slightly faster, at 37 s.
For years, Quigley has cross-trained in the pool and on the bike as a way to stay fit while rehabbing various running injuries, including hamstring strains and plantar fasciitis.
Judging by the enthusiasm of her recent posts (not to mention her results), it looks like Quigley has found herself a new sport–though she has also said she plans to return to the track, with a view to competing at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. After that, though, it would appear that she has a bright future ahead on the triathlon front.
Related: Olympic gold medalist Gwen Jorgensen returns to triathlon for run at Paris Games
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Quigley won the NCAA steeplechase title in 2015, running for Florida State University, and signed with Bowerman that year; she finished 12th in the 3,000m steeplechase at the 2015 world championships in Beijing. In 2016, she finished eighth in the event at the Rio Olympics. According to World Athletics, she ran her personal best time of 9:10.27 in 2018.
Quigley joins some other elite runners who have made the move to triathlon in style – 2016 Olympic champ Jorgensen ran for the University of Wisconsin and last year’s Kona champ Chelsea Sodaro ran for the University of California Berkeley and spent a couple of years running professionally before turning her sights to triathlon.
