There’s a new world champion in town.
Kathrine Warren of Goleta claimed a world title as she won her age group at the ITU Triathlon World Championships Grand Finale on Sunday in Budapest, Hungary.
Warren, a member of the UCSB triathlon team, took first place in the women’s 20-25 age group for the Olympic distance (1.5k swim, 40k bike, 10k run) with a time of 2 hours, 1 minute, 18 seconds. She is one of eight Americans to bring home gold medals from the prestigious international event.
![](https://presidiosports.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Moose_Embed-300x163.jpg)
"Moose" Warren emerges from the surf at East Beach this summer while competing at Reef & Run..
Her journey to the title wasn’t easy. She finished the bike portion of the race on a flat tire.
“I was actually four minutes ahead and gaining with about 8 miles left on the bike, when I got a flat tire,” she wrote on Facebook. “I had to just ride it out on my rim. I lost a lot of time, almost crashed multiple times, and came super close to hitting the race-officials’ motorcycle.”
Warren, who finished fifth in the undergrad division at the USA Triathlon Collegiate Championships, did the swim in 18:59, the bike ride in 55:48 and the run in 41:35. She edged out Rebecca Grant of New Zealand, who came in second in 2:02.4.
She trained for the World Championships with UCSB triathlon coach Mateo Mercur. Part of her training included competing in local events like the Reef & Run Series, Nite Moves and the Semana Nautica biathlon.
The second American in Budapest was Alycia Hill in fourth place in 2:04.05.
The World Championships drew close to 4,000 age group athletes from more than 70 countries and approximately 400 elite, under-23 and juniors competitors.