Chasing the Podium: How Sullivan Middaugh Is Balancing College, Training, and an Olympic Dream

Middaugh's path to elite draft-legal triathlon was forged on trails and mountain bike courses long before it ever reached a World Cup start line. He grew up immersed in the off-road XTERRA triathlon world, following in the footsteps of his father, XTERRA national champion Josiah Middaugh. 

"XTERRA is really my roots, what I grew up with," said Middaugh, who grew up in Colorado's Vail Valley. "I did the trail running series and the mountain bike series. I love it because it takes place in nature."

That foundation eventually led him to the USA TRI Development Team, which he joined in the summer of 2022. His early development in the program followed a deliberate progression: Year 1 was spent in the junior series, learning the rhythms and demands of draft-legal racing. From there, he graduated to Continental Cup events, where he steadily built his competitive footing.

"When I was first learning draft-legal triathlon, I took every race as a learning experience, which made it pretty fun," he said. "I knew going in that in triathlon, Plan A almost never happens. My approach has been to take every experience, learn from it, and race better the next time."

Last year marked a turning point. Middaugh began competing at the World Cup level, the tier just below World Triathlon Championship Series events. The jump was significant. The swims are brutal, the bike packs stronger, the runs faster. The field, he noted, is deep with athletes who are elite across all three disciplines. But he rose to meet the challenge, notching strong enough results to climb to 56th in the world rankings.

Middaugh is pursuing his degree through ASU's online program, taking accelerated 7.5-week courses rather than traditional full-semester classes. Instead of juggling multiple subjects at once, he focuses on one three-credit course per session and adds two summer sessions to compensate for the lighter regular-year load.

It's a strategy born of necessity. With travel, training camps, and competitions spread across multiple continents and time zones, a traditional academic calendar simply doesn't work.

"Traveling adds complexity, so I really have to plan," he said. "Setting deadlines, checking what's due, getting work done ahead of time before leaving, downloading materials beforehand, working on the plane. Time zone changes add another layer of difficulty."

Rather than treating travel days as academic dead zones, Middaugh has learned to mine them for productivity. With training volumes typically reduced during race weeks, free moments accumulate.

The patience and consistency of that approach are now paying off. With only about 10 credits remaining, Middaugh expects to complete his bachelor's degree this summer.

His academic interests go beyond the diploma itself. He is particularly drawn to sports science, a field that sits at the intersection of his athletic life and his intellectual curiosity, and one that could shape whatever path comes after competition.

One of the more unexpected developments of Middaugh's time on the USA TRI Development Team has been the arrival of his brother, Porter Middaugh, who recently joined the team and committed to studying Biological Sciences — mirroring Sullivan's own academic direction in a way that has made the journey feel a little less solitary. 

"I think it's awesome," Sullivan said of having his brother on the team. "We grew up always doing activities together. When I joined, it became really cool to have Porter on the team too." 

Their academic journeys have also intersected in some memorable ways. During a training camp in Girona, Spain, the brothers happened to be taking physics at the same time. They didn't study particularly well together, Sullivan admits with a laugh, but the shared experience created its own kind of camaraderie. 

More recently, while Porter was working through chemistry, the two would talk through lectures on easy runs. Porter even had to purchase at-home lab kits and set up experiments in his kitchen.

"I thought that was pretty cool," Sullivan said.

Even as he climbs the draft-legal rankings, Middaugh has not abandoned the off-road discipline that shaped him. XTERRA, he says, complements the Olympic-format side of his racing in ways that aren't always obvious from the outside.

"Draft-legal triathlon and XTERRA actually complement each other," he said. "XTERRA helps with bike handling skills, and the draft-legal format benefits the swim. It's been fun and new and challenging for me in that way."

XTERRA Worlds is returning to the U.S. this year, in New Mexico, a development Middaugh described with obvious enthusiasm. There is also a North American Championship in Alabama. While draft-legal racing remains his primary focus, the off-road calendar holds a special place in his heart, as he has shared many off-road miles with his father. 

That relationship with his father remains an important thread in Sullivan's development. The two speak three to four times a week, and their conversations are not always about training.

"Growing up, that kind of regular communication was just normal for us. He was never pressuring me to go down a specific path," Middaugh said. "It's been fun to follow in his footsteps."

When Middaugh's elite triathlon career began in 2022, the LA 2028 Olympics were a concept more than a target. The realistic ambition, as he understood it then, pointed toward 2032. 

But last year changed the calculus.

"After last year, when I made some bigger jumps and had some strong results, I began to see an outside shot at LA 2028," he said.

Still, significant work remains. The swim, he acknowledges, is the area demanding the most attention. Despite a background in summer swim team competition growing up, the races were short, no more than 100 meters, sometimes just 50, and the gap to the lead pack at the World Cup level can stretch to 30 seconds or more.

"I've made a lot of progress since joining the program," he said, "but a lot of my focus right now is on closing that gap."

This summer, if all goes according to plan, Middaugh will cross two finish lines. One will be a race somewhere on the international circuit. 

The other will be the completion of his degree. This quiet personal milestone reflects the same qualities that have driven his athletic rise: patience, structure, and the willingness to keep showing up.

For now, though, the alarm will keep going off at 7 a.m. The miles will keep accumulating. 

And somewhere between the morning run and the evening's last paragraph of coursework, Middaugh will keep doing the quiet, daily work of building something extraordinary.

The USA Triathlon Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the charitable arm of USA Triathlon. The Foundation advances the sport’s mission by funding programs that expand access and create opportunity across the multisport community. Focused on three philanthropic priorities, (1) Encouraging Youth Participation (2) Inspiring Pathways to Access and Belonging (3) Igniting Olympic and Paralympic Dreams, the Foundation works to transform lives through sport by providing opportunities to swim, bike, and run. Since its founding in 2014, the Foundation has impacted thousands of lives by investing in individuals and organizations that are building a healthier, more inclusive United States through triathlon.