British Triathlon has become the first national governing body in triathlon to instate a pregnancy deferral policy for its Age Group team. These are non-professional triathletes who can compete for Great Britain at age groups between under 19 and up to 80. Women who qualify for an Age Group Championship race are now able to defer their place in the Great Britian Team for up to two years. This also applies to women who sadly lose their baby during pregnancy.
British Triathlon’s Age Group athletes have helped co-develop the policy over the last six months. Women who become pregnant after gaining a place on the Great Britain Team are now able to return to training in their own time and not feel pressurised to return too early to hold on to their spot.
Verity Miles, Age Group Manager for British Triathlon, expressed: “We want to thank the Age Group athletes that helped us develop and refine this policy. We hope it will enable more women who want to be in the Age Group Team and become mothers to not have to choose between the two. Age Group athletes can apply for a deferral by contacting us.”
Lauren Weston, who has been in the Age Group team for over three years, expressed:
“I joined a really friendly club and my love for the sport led me to work incredibly hard for a place in Age Group GB and I had a three-year plan to get there. Desperate to represent the country, I trained all through Covid for my first world championships in Canada where I finished 15th, I raced again the following year in Madrid finishing seventh and in my next race, before falling pregnant, I was working towards the podium with my coach…
At the time, the pregnancy deferral policy was not in place and so it meant I would miss the World Championships in 2024 and couldn’t race any of the qualifiers. I would potentially be missing out on two full seasons of racing which felt totally unfair. I knew having a baby would bring compromises in my life, but I hadn’t quite realised I could miss three seasons of competing…
Understandably I was absolutely delighted to hear the pregnancy deferral policy was being introduced. Having trained up until 38 weeks pregnant, knowing I could get back to racing kept me fit physically and mentally throughout my pregnancy and led me to have a very successful birth.”
Weston also added: “As a new mum I have always been mindful that at least 10% of women get post-partum depression. Having a family is a huge commitment, you put your career on pause, your body goes through enormous changes and balancing training and a newborn baby is the ultimate endurance event. Before I was aware the policy was being introduced, there were times when I considered giving up my true passion all together. At a time when you need goals more than ever as a mum you shouldn’t have to choose between being a parent or competing in triathlon.”
A pregnancy deferral policy is already established for British Triathlon’s World Class Programme. This supported Team GB's first female triathlete Olympic medallist, Vicky Holland, for example. Holland returned to triathlon after giving birth to her daughter Emmie in January 2023. The following year she won the European Triathlon Championship aged 38.
Holland voiced: “As someone who struggled to regain entry into races post-partum, I know first-hand how important it is to be able to push pause or defer a race entry while both pregnant and in the period after giving birth. Women should not be expected to give up on their goals and ambitions, nor forfeit more than necessary in order to grow their families. It should be possible to have a child and then return to the sport you love when the time is right without being penalised in any way - just as it should be in the workplace.”
World Triathlon has also introduced a policy for elite athletes, where women are able to freeze their rankings from the moment they announce their pregnancy, until their child is two years old.
Holland voiced that without this policy: “It's almost like you've worked your whole career up to being a manager in a store and then you come back from pregnancy and you're back on basic pay and you're back down doing the checkout. You've got to work your way up again.”
Unfortunately, as reported by BBC Sport, not all national governing bodies have policies in place to support their athletes when they become pregnant.
“The differences from sport to sport is quite interesting,” said Holland. She continued: “Some elite sport policies aren't up to scratch.”
Holland reported that she “spoke to a lot of women when I came back and who were really interested to see how I'd done it and how I was making it work..
Some were encouraged but others were saying 'in our circumstances there's no way - if we want to have a family I have to retire'.”
The Rio 2016 bronze medallist questioned: “Why are we, in 2025, still penalising women for having a family? Surely you want to be a leader in this field rather than being the last one on the bus and showing yourselves to being stuck in the past.”
In response to such discussions, UK Sport has responded to say that it “strongly believes that raising a family and being an elite athlete should not be mutually exclusive.”
It continued: “We are therefore committed to continuing to engage with athletes and sports to make sure the guidance is implemented as robustly and comprehensively as possible.”
Therefore, there is hope that more national governing bodies will enable female athletes to be able to fulfil both of their dreams of competing at their highest level and having a family.
The new Age Group Pregnancy Deferral Policy can be found here: https://www.britishtriathlon.org/gb-teams/age-group/age-group-policies-and-guidelines
