If you are a young woman in triathlon right now juggling school, training, injuries, life... then I need you to read this.
Because Sophie Malowiecki's story is one nobody tells you about, and I think Sophie's story is one of the most important in Australian triathlon right now. I hope you enjoy this read, Sophie is most definitely one to watch.
x Kylie and the FOHER Team
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The Girl Who Started Triathlon at 12
Sophie grew up in Brisbane, a natural multi-sport athlete who excelled at cross country and track before her swimming coach introduced her to triathlon at age 12. It didn't take long to realise she was something special.
By the time she was in Year 11, she had already made her first Australian Junior Elite Team and competed at the ITU World Championships in London (2013). She was dominating the junior national series, going unbeaten across entire race weekends, racking up wins in aquathlons, bike criteriums and triathlons alike.
Pic: Sophie racing Junior Elite World Cup Events
Her stated goal, even then, was simple: ‘Make the Olympics and place at the World Championships’.
She wasn't dreaming small.
2016 was Sophie's year, it was the year that everything came together, then changed. She claimed the Australian Junior Triathlon Championship title. She posted world junior qualifying times in the 5000m track. And then, in Cozumel, Mexico, she stood on the podium at the ITU World Championships as part of the bronze medal-winning junior/U23 mixed relay team.
Pic: Sophies results at Junior World Cup events were epic!
The world was watching. The path to the top seemed clear. And then the injuries came.
Bone stress injuries, the silent, cruel reality of so many young endurance athletes who push their bodies hard through growth, forced Sophie to stop. Not a brief pause. A real, extended step back from the sport she loved.
A lot of athletes don't make it back from that point. The combination of injury, time away and the psychological weight of watching others move forward while you're on the sideline is something that ends careers. But Sophie chose differently. She finished university. She graduated and secured a position at one of Australia's Big 4 consulting firms where she continues to work full-time today. She let her body heal. She rebuilt quietly, patiently, on her own terms.
And when she came back, she didn't tiptoe back in. She absolutely flew. 2026 is the year Sophie Malowiecki has served notice to the entire Australian and international triathlon community.
🥇 1st Hell of the West - Queensland's toughest triathlon, out in Goondiwindi
🥈 2nd Haikou World Cup - losing by a single second to Diana Isakova
🥇 1st Australian Elite Sprint Championship exactly ten years after winning the same title as a junior. Full circle doesn't begin to cover this epic result!
🥇 1st Oceania Triathlon Cup, Gold Coast (watch her post race interview here https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1ELK3YnknE/)
Pic: Sophie takes out the 2026 Hell of the West in fine style, her first long course win on home soil, after placing second in 2025.
That Haikou World Cup result deserves a moment. One second. Sophie went head to head with Diana Isakova, a top 10 World Cup ranked triathlete and came up one single second short. That is not a near miss. That’s a statement. Sophie ended her World Cup season as the top ranked Oceania triathlete.
Pic: Sophie's second place to Diana Isakova at the Haikou World Cup was a defining moment
It’s time now for Sophie to chase the dream she set as a teenager. The Olympic qualification period has just opened, and Sophie is heading to Europe to race on the World Triathlon Series circuit. The dreams she wrote down as a 17-year-old, competing in the Olympics, the World Championships podium, is not just alive. It's within reach.
Sophie balances World Series racing with a full-time consulting career. She does the training, the travel, the work, the recovery, all of it. And she does it with composure, grit and a quiet determination that is deeply inspiring.
Pic: Sophie Malowiecki victorious at the 2026 Oceania Triathlon Cup. Courtesy Australia Triathlon
At FOHER Co, we have always believed that performance doesn't come in one shape. Our athletes are women who show up fully in sport, in life, in everything in between. Kerry Morris, our second 2026 Pro, showed us that performance doesn't end when motherhood begins. Sophie shows us that it doesn't end when injury, time or circumstance tries to take it from you either.
Pic: Sophie claiming the top Open Female spot at the 2026 Hell of the West
Sophie will be lining up at Noosa Tri in her beautiful Verdante AERO FUSION triathlon suit, so make sure if you see her you say g’day.
So to every young woman reading this - if you're a junior triathlete right now and ever had an injury, taken time away, wondered if the path is still there for you, just take a look at Sophie. She went from Junior World Championships at 15, to a bone stress injury sabbatical, to a Big 4 consulting career, to winning Hell of the West and going one second off No.1 at a World Cup all while working full-time. The path doesn't have to be a straight line. It just has to be yours.
Welcome to the FOHER family, Sophie. We are so here for this!
x Kylie and the FOHER Team
Follow Sophie's journey: @soph_malowiecki
Shop Sophie’s Verdante AERO FUSION trisuit: https://foher.co/products/womens-verdante-aero-fusion-flyfront-trisuit
