Coach insight with Claudia Beristain who continues to inspire and motivate

by Courtney Akrigg on 24 Aug, 2019 06:08 • Español
Coach insight with Claudia Beristain who continues to inspire and motivate

Claudia Beristain embarked on her triathlon pathway in 1987. The already ambitious athlete was swimming competitively for years prior and enjoyed running. She suffered an injury when she made the switch from swimming to running and was encouraged into triathlon by a doctor. She fell in love with the sport immediately and the rest is rich with history.

Claudia coaches athletes in the ASICS World Triathlon ITU Development team and is a dedicated coach to her own triathlon team, made up of age-group triathletes, in Mexico City. She has also previously coached elite triathletes including Mexico’s Olympian Rodrigo Gonzalez.

Claudia has also established pathway opportunities for women in triathlon, to progress and build confidence through skill-based initiatives before integrating them into mixed training programs.

The renowned triathlon coach, based in Mexico City with mind2motion, has two athletes who have qualified to compete in the prestigious and highly competitive 2019 ITU World Championships in Lausanne.

“Well I have been a triathlete since 1987. I was swimming competitively for some years but was actually a pretty good runner. When I switched from swimming to running, i became injured and the doctor spoke to me about triathlon. I fell in love with the sport. Since then I have raced as an elite athlete, I have coached children, youth, juniors, elite and age group and I am now involved with the ITU Coach Education program and with my own federation Coach Education program. It has been so rewarding and so much fun.

“Our team is called mind2motion, we thought of this idea thinking that sports not only work with your body but your mind should be involved too. Our team is made from really excellent people, most of them keep juggling sports, work, family or friends. All the members are very supportive for each other so we have a great team environment. I am very proud of all the people I work with. We have fun, we do sports and enjoy our friends.”

How proud are you that you have two athletes representing Mexico, within the club, at this year’s World Championships?
“I am extremely proud of Eduardo and Ana Pau. In Mexico it is pretty hard to qualify for worlds as age groupers are very competitive. The qualification process includes being on the top 2 on national races and in a cut off time from the first place. They have both done a great job and are enjoying their qualification process and preparation for worlds.”

Why triathlon?
“Well I have been a triathlete since 1987. I was swimming competitively for some years but was actually a pretty good runner. When I switched from swimming to running, i became injured and the doctor spoke to me about triathlon. I fell in love with the sport. Since then I have raced as an elite athlete, I have coached children, youth, juniors, elite and age group and I am now involved with the ITU Coach Education program and with my own federation Coach Education program. It has been so rewarding and so much fun.”

What defines success to you?
“For me success comes from enjoying what you are doing and helping improve the environment around you. So I chose to work in sports as I believe it connects people and families and helps my community be fit and healthy. It doesn’t matter if my community is my team, or development regions or other coaches interested in this beautiful sport. Then you want individual objectives to match the program in order to obtain desired results. So in a youth program you want them to become involved in sports, have fun, make friends and learn resilience and discipline at the same time. In elite sports of course you would like to win races but this has to happen with athletes growing in the sport and as individuals so that they can continue developing even when their sports career ends.”

Best wishes to the mind2motion team and the road to Lausanne for those competing.

Follow the athletes and races on www.triathlonLIVE.tv | #WTSLausanne

 ClaudiaB_coach_MexicoCity


Article gallery
Related Event: 2019 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Lausanne
29 - 01 Sep, 2019 • event pageall results
Results: Elite Men
1. Kristian Blummenfelt NOR 01:50:47
2. Mario Mola ESP 01:51:03
3. Fernando Alarza ESP 01:51:18
4. Gustav Iden NOR 01:51:34
5. Vincent Luis FRA 01:51:53
Results: Elite Women
1. Katie Zaferes USA 02:02:45
2. Jessica Learmonth GBR 02:02:49
3. Georgia Taylor-Brown GBR 02:03:03
4. Rachel Klamer NED 02:03:44
5. Flora Duffy BER 02:04:26
Results: U23 Men
1. Roberto Sanchez Mantecon ESP 01:50:20
2. Csongor Lehmann HUN 01:50:36
3. Ran Sagiv ISR 01:50:50
4. Vasco Vilaca POR 01:51:07
5. Brandon Copeland AUS 01:51:12
Results: U23 Women
1. Emilie Morier FRA 02:04:01
2. Olivia Mathias GBR 02:04:08
3. Lisa Tertsch GER 02:04:32
4. Kate Waugh GBR 02:04:53
5. Kira Hedgeland AUS 02:05:22
Results: Junior Men
1. Ricardo Batista POR 00:55:05
2. Lorcan Redmond AUS 00:55:12
3. Sergio Baxter Cabrera ESP 00:55:16
4. Boris Pierre FRA 00:55:18
5. Paul Georgenthum FRA 00:55:23
Results: Junior Women
1. Beatrice Mallozzi ITA 01:00:41
2. Costanza Arpinelli ITA 01:00:42
3. Jessica Fullagar FRA 01:00:53
4. Hannah Knighton NZL 01:01:26
5. Erin Wallace GBR 01:01:47
Results: Mixed U23-Junior Relay
1. Team I New Zealand NZL 01:06:50
2. Team I Great Britain GBR 01:06:57
3. Team I United States USA 01:07:22
4. Team I Switzerland SUI 01:07:34
5. Team I Germany GER 01:07:45
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