The SheLovesTri programme in Sanxenxo and Pontevedra brought together National Federations, coaches, administrators, researchers, and members of the wider triathlon community to examine women's current position in triathlon and consider actions to support further progress.
Held alongside the World Triathlon Congress and Membership Services and Development meetings from 22–27 September, the programme included five initiatives covering female participation, women in coaching, federation development, networking and the sharing of best practice. The programme was built around the findings of the World Triathlon Women in Triathlon Status Study, with the objective of moving beyond awareness of the data and encouraging National Federations to consider how the findings relate to their own environments.
Coach Social Runs at Siglar Beach
Every morning from 22 to 27 September, coaches met at Silgar Beach in Sanxenxo for an easy run together. Running side by side gave people time to make new connections, get to know existing contacts better and talk freely about anything, which helps people bond and build trust. We hope these connections will last and that everyone involved can build on them. Within a few days, the bright colours of the SheLovesTri t-shirts that World Triathlon gave participants made the group easy to spot from afar, even though we set off in the dark. Each run finished at a beautiful sunrise, a great start to the busy days of Congress and the Championship Finals.
Laureus Keynote: Growing Women's Sport Together
On 23 September, Dr Morten Schmidt, Global Director of Programmes and Grants at the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, gave the keynote at Congress on female participation. He set out the partnership between Laureus, Brunel University of London, World Triathlon and two other International Federations (Hockey and Basketball). Its mission is to increase and retain the number of women athletes, coaches and leaders, and to make sure they experience sport in a safe, inclusive and positive environment. Morten acknowledged the familiar challenges: girls drop out of sport sooner than boys, women are under-represented in coaching and leadership, stereotypes persist, and coaches are not always prepared for girls' specific needs. He also described a shift in momentum, with growing recognition that the quality of women's experience in sport is what drives growth, and that federations are the lever for systemic change. He highlighted what World Triathlon already does in this area -
Embedding Body Confident Sport principles into its e-learning platform, rolling out the Body Confident Sport toolkit through National Federations including NZL and BEL.
Promoting female coaches and improving their representation in course materials,
Running female-only coaching courses and committing to more women on Level 1 and Level 2 courses,
Delivering a female coach mentoring and leadership programme,
Building safeguarding capacity with National Federations.
The partnership's objectives for 2026 and 2027 are to train coaches, create clear pathways for female coaches and leaders, strengthen safeguarding and share best practice. The work will produce a living playbook to help federations grow women's sport. Morten stressed that leadership buy-in and the engagement of all coaches will be essential. "It's time to stop talking about [barriers]. It's time to break them down," he told delegates. He reminded them that this journey is a long-distance event, "certainly not a super sprint".
Understanding the barriers to women in coaching
The discussion on Status and Perceptions of Female Coaches provided different perspectives on the experiences of women progressing through coaching.
Held in the beautiful building of Casa Consistorial de Pontevedra, Vicent Beltran (World Triathlon) moderated a panel of Dr Tarryn Godfrey (Brunel University of London), Alba Cuba Dorado (University of Vigo), Dr Morten Schmidt (Laureus Sport for Good Foundation), Kate Murray (Chair of World Triathlon National Coaches Committee), Dan Atkins (AusTriathlon) and Istvan Jankov (World Triathlon Coach Education Manager) in front of about 25 attendees - from World Champions and Olympians to World Triathlon Executive Board members. Together they brought perspectives from academia, governance and high-performance coaching into an informal discussion. The topic is timely as women only held 25% of team personnel accreditations (coaches and age-group team managers) in Pontevedra, which is exactly the same share as in Wollongong last year. The numbers show that change in coaching has only just begun.
The Board's presence showed clearly how committed the organisation is to improving gender equity and equality in coaching. Shortly after the start, the session became fully interactive, with many people in the audience asking questions and sharing their own views, and panellists and World Triathlon representatives taking notes, gathering suggestions for the next stage of the project. We ran live Mentimeter polls during the coffee talk, and the answers were clear. Asked for the biggest challenge female coaches face, participants described structural barriers more than personal ones: perception and societal bias, conscious and unconscious; cultural factors; childcare and time; and too few opportunities from National Federations. Several also pointed to a lack of direction, with no clear view of what a coaching pathway involves. Asked how female coaches can be supported, the room had a consistent answer. Mentoring networks and clearer coaching pathways came up most often, followed by a safe environment with proper safeguarding, connection with other female coaches (including those in other sports) and female role models. Participants also called for financial support, allyship, structured support and more NF-led opportunities. One practical idea stood out: a toolkit to help coaches stay strong in confrontational situations. The answers echo what we heard in the Female Coaches in Triathlon Status Study, which also found that coaches want mentors, networks and clear routes into high-performance coaching.
If you weren't in the room, you missed one of the liveliest hours of the week. The good news is that this was only the beginning. More coffee talks are on the way, on this subject and on other topics that matter to our community, so keep an eye out and come and join the conversation next time.
Learning from National Federation experience
Held in Sanxenxo, NF's met for the Female Coaching Best Practices Workshop. The aim was to give NFs a catalogue of real projects and practical examples of how such programmes can be built. Two leading NFs shared their work: Eleanor Condon, Women in Sport Lead, EDI Lead and National Anti-Doping Officer at Triathlon Ireland, and Debbie Clarke, Chair of the Board at British Triathlon. The discussion started with the need that sparked each initiative.
In Ireland, more women were entering coaching, but few were progressing. Female Tri Leaders rose from 46 to 213 between 2021 and 2025, and Level 1 coaches from 8 to 69, yet only 13 women held Level 2 in 2025. Triathlon Ireland responded with a Women in Sport programme that works across leadership, participation, officiating and coaching, supported by a national network of WIS Advocates.
In Great Britain, women make up 3 in 10 of the coaching workforce. In March 2026, British Triathlon launched LeadHERship Tri, a flexible, modular programme that meets women where they are, whether at a club, school, university or community group. It asks each candidate one question: "What do you want to do?" Its first cohort of 28 women coaches follows three tracks from grassroots to performance, with mentoring, workshops, CPD and HerVoice sessions with inspiring female leaders.
Both programmes rest on the same principles: know your numbers, find where women drop out of the pathway, build mentoring and networks, make women visible and measure progression rather than participation alone. Eleanor's key message was simple: "Be triathlon." Women in Sport should not sit alongside the sport as a separate project but run through all of it. When asked what they would say to any woman thinking of taking on a role in the sport, both presenters gave the same answer: "Just start."
Building capacity across National Federations
The discussion also moved beyond individual programmes and considered the organisational capacity required to create change. During the Membership Services and Development Meeting, Dr Tarryn Godfrey highlighted the role of capacity building in supporting progress. She outlined five areas for federations to consider: act, deliver, relate, adapt and cohere.
For National Federations, this means having the capacity to move from identifying an issue to implementing action, delivering programmes effectively, understanding and responding to the people within the sport, adapting approaches when required and ensuring that different areas of the organisation are working together.
This approach is particularly relevant to female participation. Increasing the number of women entering triathlon cannot be considered separately from the structures that support participation, coaching, competition, administration and leadership.
From data to action
The Women in Triathlon Status Study provides World Triathlon and its National Federations with evidence about the current position of women in the sport. The SheLovesTri programme provided an opportunity to discuss what that evidence means in practice.
The message across the programme was not that every National Federation should take the same approach. Federations operate in different environments and face different challenges. Instead, the study provides a starting point for each federation to examine its own situation.
This includes asking where women are participating, where they are leaving the sport and what opportunities are available to them as they progress. It also means looking beyond participation to consider representation in coaching, technical officiating, administration and leadership.
The discussions in Sanxenxo and Pontevedra reinforced the importance of listening to the people involved, understanding the barriers that exist within each environment and developing practical actions that can be implemented and sustained.
Continuing the conversation
SheLovesTri brought together research, lived experience and examples of practice from National Federations and the wider sporting community. The programme demonstrated that progress requires both awareness and action. Data can identify where further work is required, but change depends on organisations having the capacity and willingness to respond.
For NFs, the next step is to consider their own data, structures and experiences and identify where practical changes can be made. The objective is to create more opportunities for women to enter, remain and progress through triathlon, including in participation, coaching, technical officiating, administration and leadership.
Stay tuned: SheLovesTri | World Triathlon
