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.
"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.
