Africa Triathlon

Claudia Beristain embarked on her triathlon pathway in 1987. The already ambitious athlete was swimming competitively for years prior and enjoyed running. She suffered an injury when she made the switch from swimming to running and was encouraged into triathlon by a doctor. She fell in love with the sport immediately and the rest is rich with history.

Claudia coaches athletes in the ASICS World Triathlon ITU Development team and is a dedicated coach to her own triathlon team, made up of age-group triathletes, in Mexico City. She has also previously coached elite triathletes including Mexico’s Olympian Rodrigo Gonzalez.

Claudia has also established pathway opportunities for women in triathlon, to progress and build confidence through skill-based initiatives before integrating them into mixed training programs.

The renowned triathlon coach, based in Mexico City with mind2motion, has two athletes who have qualified to compete in the prestigious and highly competitive 2019 ITU World Championships in Lausanne.

“Well I have been a triathlete since 1987. I was swimming competitively for some years but was actually a pretty good runner. When I switched from swimming to running, i became injured and the doctor spoke to me about triathlon. I fell in love with the sport. Since then I have raced as an elite athlete, I have coached children, youth, juniors, elite and age group and I am now involved with the ITU Coach Education program and with my own federation Coach Education program. It has been so rewarding and so much fun.

“Our team is called mind2motion, we thought of this idea thinking that sports not only work with your body but your mind should be involved too. Our team is made from really excellent people, most of them keep juggling sports, work, family or friends. All the members are very supportive for each other so we have a great team environment. I am very proud of all the people I work with. We have fun, we do sports and enjoy our friends.”

How proud are you that you have two athletes representing Mexico, within the club, at this year’s World Championships?
“I am extremely proud of Eduardo and Ana Pau. In Mexico it is pretty hard to qualify for worlds as age groupers are very competitive. The qualification process includes being on the top 2 on national races and in a cut off time from the first place. They have both done a great job and are enjoying their qualification process and preparation for worlds.”

Why triathlon?
“Well I have been a triathlete since 1987. I was swimming competitively for some years but was actually a pretty good runner. When I switched from swimming to running, i became injured and the doctor spoke to me about triathlon. I fell in love with the sport. Since then I have raced as an elite athlete, I have coached children, youth, juniors, elite and age group and I am now involved with the ITU Coach Education program and with my own federation Coach Education program. It has been so rewarding and so much fun.”

What defines success to you?
“For me success comes from enjoying what you are doing and helping improve the environment around you. So I chose to work in sports as I believe it connects people and families and helps my community be fit and healthy. It doesn’t matter if my community is my team, or development regions or other coaches interested in this beautiful sport. Then you want individual objectives to match the program in order to obtain desired results. So in a youth program you want them to become involved in sports, have fun, make friends and learn resilience and discipline at the same time. In elite sports of course you would like to win races but this has to happen with athletes growing in the sport and as individuals so that they can continue developing even when their sports career ends.”

Best wishes to the mind2motion team and the road to Lausanne for those competing.

Follow the athletes and races on www.triathlonLIVE.tv | #WTSLausanne