For its record ninth season the Bahrain Victorious 13 welcomes new team members to its all-star stable of athletes.
Ironman vice world champion Katrina Matthews (GBR), Olympic bronze medalist Hayden Wilde (NZL), and Ironman Asia Pacific champion Amelia Rose Watkinson (NZL) have signed onto the roster featuring Olympic medalists, world champions, and rising aces in the sport of triathlon.
Among her most recent accolades aside from a silver finish at the Ironman World Championship St. George last year, Matthews became the world’s fastest woman across the full distance when she crossed the finish line ahead of the legendary Nicola Spirig at the Pho3nix Sub8 Project Powered by Zwift. About joining the Bahrain Victorious 13 she says, “I’m honoured to be joining the Bahrain Victorious 13 team. Being part of a team full of champions really motivates me to optimise my dedication to the sport, and it’s an incredibly inspiring environment to be in where we can see the strength in one another and aim to improve ourselves.”
Wilde says, “I’m stoked to be part of this team. They’ve got some rich history in triathlon teaming up with world champions, Olympic champions, and the list goes on and on. Can’t wait to represent the team this year and hopefully many more years to come.”
Wilde heads into 2023 with a focus on the Paris Olympic Games alongside fellow Olympic medalists Georgia Taylor-Brown, Vincent Luis, Cassandre Beaugrand, and Henri Schoeman. Matthews and Watkinson line up with Alistair Brownlee, Holly Lawrence, Joe Skipper, and Lauren Parker in targeting team domination across key long course titles.
They join multiple world champions Jan Frodeno and Daniela Ryf who have been with the team since its inception in 2015 and have contributed 14 of the 34 world titles collectively won by the Bahrain Victorious 13.
Frodeno is set to race his final year as a professional, with a focus on the Ironman World Championship and European Championship as well as competing on the PTO Tour for the first time. He says, “It’s been a crazy journey with the team. We won together and lost together. It’s such a good group of people tied together by a passion for winning at the highest level and so I’m looking forward to leading the charge for glory one more time!”
This year also marks a watershed moment for the Bahrain Victorious 13: for the first time, the roster features more female than male athletes. Achieving gender parity in membership has always been a long-term goal for the team. It’s also indicative of the deepening of the pro women’s field in the sport.
Year on year the Bahrain Victorious 13 team builds on its successes under the leadership of team patron, His Highness Shaikh Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa whose pioneering and unparalleled vision it was to bring the world’s best athletes together to win major titles and inspire a culture of health, wellness, and endurance sporting excellence across the Gulf region and beyond. After nearly a decade in existence, the Bahrain Victorious 13 continues to be the benchmark in endurance sport, relentlessly pursuing excellence without compromise.
