ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Thousands of the nation’s fastest amateur short-course triathletes swam, biked, and ran on Saturday, Sept. 14 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, at the 2024 USA Triathlon Sprint & Olympic Distance National Championships, USA Triathlon’s largest and longest-running National Championship event.

Heather Lendway (St. Paul, Minn.) and Kyle Hooker (Springfield, Va.), won the overall women’s and men’s Olympic-Distance national titles, racing the 1,500-meter swim, 40-kilometer bike and 10k run course that started in the water near Bader Field and took athletes on a bike ride down the Atlantic City Expressway with a run finish on the Boardwalk.

USA Triathlon partnered with event production company DelMoSports, which organizes events along the southern New Jersey shore and Philadelphia areas, to support the production of 2024 USA Triathlon Sprint & Olympic Distance National Championships.

Athletes from across the country raced in Atlantic City for national titles in their respective age groups, and for the opportunity to represent age group Team USA at the 2025 World Triathlon Age Group World Championships in Wollongong, Australia. Racing action continues Sunday with the Sprint-Distance National Championships, held on a 750m swim, 20k bike, 5k run course.

Notable athletes racing on Saturday included 24-year-old Chris Nikic who made international headlines in 2020, becoming the first person with Down syndrome to finish an IRONMAN triathlon. Nikic was awarded the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance as part of the 2021 ESPY Awards. He’d then go on to compete at the IRONMAN World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, in 2022. He finished Saturday’s race to triumphant applause and cheers from spectators, becoming the first athlete with Down syndrome to compete in USA Triathlon’s Olympic Distance National Championships.

In the race for national titles in the Olympic Distance National Championships race, Lendway, 40, took the overall women’s title, finishing in 2 hours, 7 minutes, 11 seconds. A strong swim-biker, Lendway is no stranger to the overall national title podium at USA Triathlon Olympic-Distance National Championships. The Minnesota native won back-to-back national titles at Olympic-Distance Nationals in 2013 and 2014 in Milwaukee.

Following those two wins, she took her pro license and dabbled in pro racing on the IRONMAN 70.3 circuit for a few years before taking a break from triathlon racing following the 2017 season. She returned to the sport in 2021, drawn by the swim, bike, run training and the strong multisport community.

“I love swimming and biking. I never stopped training, but racing after several serious injuries was just really hard. I needed a break from racing. Eventually, I started racing the shorter, local races and I ran into people I had raced five, 10 years before. I was running into old friends. There’s such a great community with triathletes,” said Lendway, who posted the day’s fastest swim split and fourth-fastest bike to propel her to the win. “I knew coming in if I went sub 2:10, I’d have a top-10 finish. To hear that I was in contention for the overall win was so surprising. It feels so good racing strong again and is really motivating.”

Rachel Werking (Altoona, Pa.), finished second on the overall women’s podium, winning her 25-29 age group with a time of 2:09:12. Rounding out the overall women’s podium was Jenna Campbell (Boulder, Colo.) in 2:09:57.

In the men’s race, Hooker, 36, captured his first overall USA Triathlon Olympic-Distance national title, cruising to victory in a time of 1:51:40. He had the day’s fastest swim, third-fastest bike, and fifth-fastest run to hold off Dylan McMurrer (Kinnelon, N.J.) and Blake Selm (Indianapolis, Ind.), who finished second and third on the overall podium, while winning their 25-29 and 20-24 age groups.

A pilot for the U.S. Navy, Hooker started competing in triathlon as a member of the U.S. Naval Academy's perennially strong collegiate club triathlon team. He has won seven Armed Forces Triathlon national championships and finished runner-up at USA Triathlon Olympic-Distance National Championships in 2015.

“It was a fantastic race. The run was starting to get toasty; I’m surprised I kept it together, but I held on. I had no idea until I crossed the finish line that I had won,” Hooker said. “I always believe ‘Never look behind you, always look in front of you.’ You’re only going to win if you stay focused looking forward, so that’s what I did the whole race.”

Hooker has raced USA Triathlon Sprint and Olympic Distance National Championships several times and encourages other triathletes who qualify to race the annual event.

“It’s the most competitive race in the nation. That’s why you should be here. The fastest people are here, so come out and race,” Hooker said.

Nation’s Fastest Age Group Triathletes Race in Atlantic City for National Titles at 2024 USA Triathlon Olympic Distance National Championships

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2024 Olympic-Distance National Championships#