Kira Gupta-Baltazar of Kleinburg, Ontario won the gold medal on Saturday at the 2021 National Collegiate Athletic Association Women’s Triathlon Championship in Tempe, Arizona. She continues a rich dominance by Canadian women in the event. Canadians have won the title each of the last four years.
Gupta-Baltazar, who represents the University of San Francisco, won the gold medal with a time of one hour, four minutes, 20.8 seconds. Fellow Canadian Hannah Henry of Victoria, British Columbia, who represents Arizona State University, won the silver medal, with a time of one hour, four minutes, 46.3 seconds. Gillian Cridge of Indianapolis, Indiana, who like Gupta-Baltazar represents the University of San Francisco, finished in third place with a score of one hour, five minutes, 23.7 seconds. Gupta-Baltazar reached the podium by one minute, 6.7 seconds over American Molly Elliott of Boise, Idaho. who had a fourth place time of one hour, five minutes, 27.5 seconds.
In the competition, Gupta-Baltazar had the fastest swim among the 40 triathletes with a time of nine minutes and 55 seconds. She also had a cycling time of 34 minutes and 54 seconds, and a run of 18 minutes and 13 seconds. Henry won the NCAA Women’s Triathlon Title in 2017 and 2018, while Kyla Roy of Winnipeg, Manitoba won the 2019 title while representing the University of Arizona State.
