Colleen Quigley to Triathlon?

No, she will be a strong swimmer. She swims all the time. That seems to be her main form of cross training when she's injured and she also does it when she's not injured.

The challenging part, and this goes with cycling as well, will be the adjusting to the "real" environment vs. the gym/pool. Open water swimming with a bunch of other people elbowing you and cycling on the road with the potential of crashing will take some practice, but I'm sure she will adapt to all that.

Actually, you are quite wrong. I was a professional cyclist, who transitioned to the run and swim when burnt out from the long mileage and travel across the country. The run was an easy transition for me, however, the swim was difficult. So, yeah, I know how it works.

In reality, you were a Cat. 5 who transition to the run and swim when you kept finding you couldn't even hang with the pack and got tired to driving to all the local bike races and Tuesday night Crits only to get dropped in the first lap.

She's posted rides on Strava and is actually already very strong and matching up well with some top pro and semi-pro female cyclists on climbs and segments in her area. Bike handling will obviously be something she'll need to learn and work on, but her demonstrated ability as a new cyclist is very, very good. If she can figure out the swim, she'll absolutely be a force to be reckoned with.

Mary Cain's power files, on the other hand, were/ are abysmal.

She is already handling the ascents and descents of Malibu Canyon with confidence. That’s far scarier than criterium style tri racing.

I know a professional swimmer who would be a strong runner in diamond league 5k's because... she jogs all the time.

I mean, she is really running. 25 minutes straight some times around a track, without stopping.

This post is stacked with clueless. You are just delusional. Tri's are not as aggressive as the video I'll share below, which is a lead-in for a sprint (which tri's don't have) but tri pack riding is far scarier than drifting down a hill, on your breaks, with no cars or bikes around. Women crash all the time in draft legal tri races. Almost every race there is a crash in the pack. They don't crash almost every time, training alone, down a hill, sitting on their breaks.

Interesting.

Not making the steeple Oly team in 24' then trying for tri's 4 years later. Like going for the kiss, getting slapped, then asking for sex.

It's not impossible but Morgan Pearson is the only success story (for america) but he's very handsome so got sex right away. Morgan is the success story for the running purists that have tried to switch over. L. Verzbicus was a not a running purist.

Other notables were Alan Webb. Also 1500 Trials finalist / 5k road record holder (13:35) Greg Whitely tried before Webb.

It is just a huge amount of time with NO money just to make an Oly team. Prize list for ITU WTS races (top level) is abysmal. They pay next to nothing and only to the top 10 out of fields that are 50 - 70 deep. It's a money pit, career wise and time wise, and I doubt Quigley would have the same contract she has a runner only. Tri shoe deals are watered down greatly. It's a lot of mediocre sponsor deals, light on money, heavy of free gear and swag, with some incentive bonuses. The life (grind) for triathletes is basically going around the world, chasing qualifying points for the oly cycle, and going broke doing it. All that airfare money, and extra charges for bike boxes. It's non-stop blood letting of money that is not covered for most. triathletes have to break down and build up there bikes every race. They do it all themselves. It is not glamorous.

It's a blue collar path to get into the olympics. blood, sweat, bike grease everywhere, and terrible travel experiences all the time (missing bags / bikes /fights at airports in various countries). A triathlete would dream of just bringing a couple pairs of running shoes!

USAT covers some for the top 3 hopefuls (gold, silver, bronze funding levels) but these funding levels are bleak even for the top hopefuls. Nobody is making a retirement egg unless you are the very best. Support is enough to get you around to chase points, but to a limit. You will have to pay YOURSELF to race more and that is a must if you are low on ranking points.

Quigley would be below that level of support. Burning cash, trying to get a pittance in support from USAT and whatever she could convince companies of from her running only background. She can get product deals easy. Not deals that pay money and certainly not a salary. That does not exist in triathlon.

Perhaps her Lululemon contracts want her to be shooting and competing for something, so as long as she's doing that, she sees support.

matt mcelroy too?

She's in the primo area for training in Los Angeles. Sunny every day 365 days a year. Good luck to Coleen.

yeah, forgot. thanks.

Finally, someone who knows what they're talking about. This website loves to suggest triathlon as a landing spot for runners nearing the twilight of their career as if they can just "figure out the swim" and become competitive and that biking is easy. Yet that almost never happens - the successful ones 1) had a strong or very strong swimming background (Pearson, McElroy) before crossing over and 2) did not wait until late career to switch.

The new generation of top tier triathletes (Iden, Blummenfelt, etc) are not the old breed of crossover athletes from the early ITU days. It is not a sport to jump into at 30+ and past your prime if you're looking for ITU success.

Adult onset swimming is not easy but cycling for draft legal tri at the international level is a lot harder to pick up. I don’t think she’s getting ready for non draft long course. Kudos to her for finding a different way to get attention.

Chelsea Sodaro?

There may be interest among women to attempt, or reengage, the Olympic tri because U.S.’s top athlete is still coming back from having a baby. KatieZ is tough as nails and I still would not count her out.

Exactly, Chelsea Sodaro, end of story.

As others have said, the move would come post 2024. She would basically have no shot in 2024. Spivey & Knibb are locks. Kasper & Rappaport are right there, plus Zaferes coming back from maternity. Throw in Jorgensen to the mix too.

WTS racing is a different ballgame -- you can't get left behind on the swim or you're going to miss bike packs. Idk what Quigley's end game is but to be competitive I would think she would have to start focusing on swim/bike/run now for 2028. So maybe that's more/less what she'll do. Maybe she'll do a lot of triathlon training, while giving 2024 a go on the track.

Idk how she'd fare at long course. I don't think she's ever run anything over 5k and is injury prone. But you don't need to be perfect with your technical skills and the competition is good but a half step down. Intrigued to see her give it a go.

I agree that the drafting takes practice, but it actually is not that difficult for most. Triathlons are not nearly as aggressive as CRITS and the women are a lot less aggressive than the men. The bike handling skills are important and she must have good reflexes, confidence, and be aggressive. This can be learned quickly for some, but never learned in others. If she can ride with confidence and be a bit aggressive, learn the bike handling skills, and put in the rides necessary to become strong on the bike, I am confident she’ll be a good enough biker to hang on to the others and then knock out a killer run. (Remember, she’ll be able to draft. This is exactly what Gwen did, as the bike was by far her weakest event)
I really think it is the swim that will be the most difficult for her, as this event is VERY technical and usually takes years to perfect.

Gwen was a swimmer and runner in college. She then picked up the bike after college, and the rest is history.
There’s also Sheila Taormina. She was a gold medalist swimmer from Georgia, who transitioned to the triathlon, winning the 2004 ITU championships and competed in two Olympics (2000, 2004) in the triathlon.

And yes, I did ride professionally. I was able to pick up the run fairly quickly, but could never learn the technical swimming skills to become even average at the swim.