USA Triathlon has announced the 11 athletes who will make up its Elite Triathlon National Team for the 2022 season.
The star-studded contingent features the quartet who secured a stunning Mixed Relay silver medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo last year.
Taylor Knibb, Katie Zaferes, Kevin McDowell and Morgan Pearson came home behind Great Britain in the Japanese capital, and form part of a talented USA line-up for 2022.
Women lead the way
The strength of the nation’s female triathletes is highlighted by a seven-four split in favour of the women.
Knibb and Zaferes – the latter of whom also claimed bronze medal in the individual event in Tokyo – are joined on the roster by Erika Ackerlund, Tamara Gorman, Kirsten Kasper, Summer Rappaport and Taylor Spivey.
Spivey picked up bronze at World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) Montreal last year (and took the same position in the overall series), while Rappaport, another Olympian, took silver at WTCS Yokohama. Kasper finished 12th overall in the 2021 WTCS series.
Gorman is an individual world title-winner at junior and u23 levels, while Ackerlund was part of the US Mixed Relay team at 2021 WTCS Hamburg.
Promising signs
Despite being outnumbered in the 2022 team, the USA men enjoyed a promising season last year.
Pearson picked up silver and bronze at WTCS Leeds and WTCS Yokohama respectively, and McDowell finished sixth in the individual event at Tokyo.
The duo are joined on the team by Seth Rider, who finished ahead of them in the WTCS final standings and achieved the country’s highest-ever finish (ninth). That included an impressive fourth place at the Edmonton Grand Final.
Matt McElroy, who is one of only three USA men to have picked up a WTCS medal, completes the line-up.
2022 U.S. Elite Triathlon National Team Roster
Women:
Erika Ackerlund (Helena, Mont.)
Tamara Gorman (Rapid City, S.D.)
Kirsten Kasper (North Andover, Mass.)
Taylor Knibb (Boulder, Colo.)
Summer Rappaport (Thornton, Colo.)
Taylor Spivey (Redondo Beach, Calif.)
Katie Zaferes (Cary, N.C.)
Men:
Kevin McDowell (Geneva, Ill.)
Matt McElroy (Huntington Beach, Calif.)
Morgan Pearson (New Vernon, N.J.)
Seth Rider (Germantown, Tenn.)
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