Sophie Linn (triathlon) upstaged her more-fancied rivals to win the Gold Coast Triathlon in April 2022 and earn automatic nomination for her first Commonwealth Games in Birmingham where she stormed home to finish 5th – the best-placed Australian in the women’s event. She also won bronze as the anchor on the mixed team relay. The former long-distance track and cross-country runner – who was also a nationally-ranked junior swimmer – only took up triathlon after she graduated with degrees in sports business and human-computer interaction from the University of Michigan in 2018. Sophie works as a designer for a bike technology company in Boulder, Colorado, and often trains with boyfriend Alexey Vermeulen, a former professional bike rider.