GB’s Non Stanford elected onto World Triathlon Athletes Committee
Former World Champion and Olympian Non Stanford has been elected as one of the 10 representatives on the World Triathlon Athletes Committee.
The Mission of the Athletes’ Committee is to ensure that the athletes’ viewpoint remains at the heart of World Triathlon decisions which has been a fundamental principle of the organisation since its creation in Avignon, France, 1989.
Non Stanfords inclusion as one of ten elected members on the ‘athlete centred’ committee is justified, being one of the most experienced athletes on the British programme.
Non Stanford is a Welsh lass, born in Bridgend who grew up in Swansea and was a successful cross-country runner, being the Welsh Schools 1,500m champion in 2002, 2003 and 2004. In the 2009 British Triathlon Super Series she came second, and in 2009/10 was awarded the ‘Paul Weston Triathlon Scholarship’ to concentrate on triathlon.
Non Stanford speaks openly about her career to the TriNation Podcast Crew here.
Her transition from track running to triathlon was a successful one, with a breakthrough year in 2012. She won senior gold in the ITU Triathlon Mixed Relay and U23 gold at the ITU World Championships in that season. The following year started with a win in the ITU World Triathlon Series in Madrid, before going on to take her maiden senior world title in London. Along the way she achieved podium finishes in San Diego, Hamburg and Stockholm.
In 2016 she represented Team GB at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where she just missed out on a medal position finishing fourth. In 2018 Stanford also captained her beloved Wales at the Gold Coast Commonwealth and then the following year went on to win World Triathlon race in Hamburg.
After a series of injury-hit seasons, Non Stanford undertook knee surgery that was potentially career-ending. After a long recovery process, the 32-year old took on her first race since October 2019, with an amazing 7th place finish in the 2021 World Triathlon Championship Series opener in Yokohama, Japan.
Her switch of training setup from British Triathlon’s Leeds base to Joel Filliol’s international group seems to have sparked a change in fortune.
Stanford continues her comeback and just this week-end raced in the WTCS Abu Dhabi finishing in the top ten in 8th place. After two races completed of the 2022 WTCS season Stanford has a standing in the world rankings of 8th. Quite some comeback!
Her big goal going forward is to try to win a medal for Wales at the 2022 Commonwealth Games
The make-up of the World Triathlon Athletes Committee is composed of five athletes of each gender, with at least one member from each of the five continents, two Para triathlete members one from each gender with the remaining eight being elite athletes, equally gender balanced.
The ten athletes elected to the committee, with a wide breadth of experience in the world of triathlon are charted below:
| NAME | CONTINENT | CATEGORY |
| Non Stanford | GBR | Elite |
| Kenji Nener | JPN | Elite |
| Nicola Spirig | SUI | Elite |
| Claire Michel | BEL | Elite |
| Richard Varga | SVK | Elite |
| Tamas Toth | HUN | Elite |
| Allysa Seely | USA | Para triathlete |
| Jonathan Goerlach | AUS | Para triathlete |
| Mehdi Essadiq | MAR | Elite |
| Basmla Elsalamoney | EGY | Elite |
