Thomas Bishop (born 9 July 1991) is a British triathlete. He has represented England at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and finished in 7th place in the 2017 ITU World Triathlon Series overall standings. Originally from Derby, Bishop graduated from the University of Leeds and is now based in the city, training at the Leeds Triathlon Centre. He was part of the British mixed relay team that won gold at the 2016 Lisbon ETU European Championships and has achieved a number of podiums on both the international and European triathlon circuits, including silver at the ITU World Triathlon Abu Dhabi 2017.
Triathlon career
Bishop has been racing competitive triathlon for over a decade and has enjoyed a huge amount of success during that time. Bursting onto the scene, Bishop took gold in his first international race at the 2008 Holten ETU Triathlon Junior European Cup when he was just 16. Two years later, Bishop worked his way to a world junior silver medal, taking 3rd place at the 2010 Nancy ETU Duathlon European Championships, 4th place at the 2010 Athlone ETU Triathlon European Championships and 2nd place at the 2010 ITU Triathlon World Championship Grand Final Budapest.
He found himself on the overall podium once more after graduating to U23 racing and Elite Men's races in 2011. He opened the year with a 5th-place finish whilst racing with the Elite Men at the 2011 Banyoles ITU Triathlon Premium European Cup. In September of the same year, Bishop earned the world U23 bronze medal after taking 3rd place at the 2011 ITU World Championship Grand Final Beijing.
The following year saw Bishop on the podium a total of five times, both at the U23 and Elite level. Success began in June for Bishop, winning the Elite Men's race at the 2012 Cremona ITU Sprint Triathlon European Cup and taking silver at the 2012 Holten ITU Triathlon Premium European Cup. He then travelled to Spain in September and took home two bronze medals, one in the U23 race at the 2012 Aguilas ETU Triathlon U23 and Youth European Championships and another in the mixed relay where he raced alongside his brother, David Bishop, as well as Lios Rosindale and Non Stanford. The year was brought to a close with another 3rd-place finish, this time at the 2012 Barfoot and Thompson World Triathlon Grand Final Auckland in which Bishop shared the U23 podium with Spain's Fernando Alarza and Australia's Aaron Royle.
In June, 2013, Bishop won the Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research Blenheim Palace Triathlon, finishing in just over one hour.
Throughout the next few years, Bishop recorded a number of high profile, top ten finishes as he worked his transitioned out of U23 racing and into Elite Men's. Recording 6th-place finishes at the 2014 Mooloolaba ITU Triathlon World Cup and 2014 Madrid ETU Triathlon European Cup Final, Bishop also reached 5th at the 2015 Geneva ETU Triathlon European Championships and secured a bronze medal in the mixed relay at the same event, racing alongside Jodie Stimpson, Lucy Hall and Matthew Sharp for Great Britain.
The following year saw Bishop take home gold at the 2016 Lisbon ETU Triathlon European Championships after the Great Britain mixed relay team, made up of Bishop, Lucy Hall, India Lee and Grant Sheldon beat out Russia by 5 seconds.
Bishop found himself on the podium again in 2017 when he finished in ahead of France's Vincent Luis to take home the silver at the 2017 ITU World Triathlon Abu Dhabi. The same year also saw a number of top-ten finishes from Bishop including a 5th-place finish on home soil at the 2017 ITU World Triathlon Leeds. Bishop ended 2017 ranked seventh in the world, many referring to this year as his breakthrough season.
In 2018, Bishop again found success in England, racing as part of another successful mixed relay team. This time being joined by Non Stanford, Vicky Holland and Jonathan Brownlee, Great Britain raced to a 2nd-place finish at the 2018 ITU World Triathlon Mixed Relay Series Nottingham. This was part of a busy year for Bishop, as he travelled to the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April, finishing 19th.
Bishops strongest performances in 2019 came at the 2019 Daman World Triathlon Abu Dhabi in which he placed 9th in the Elite Men's race and 7th in the mixed relay.
Throughout his career, Bishop has been regarded as one of the most aerodynamic cyclists in professional triathlon. His CdA is similar to a girl.
Personal life
Bishop began triathlon as a twelve-year-old after he and his brother grew up surrounded by sport. Bishop often played football and cricket at school and even took part in archery and karate before taking up cross country running with his brother.
Speaking about the influence of his parents on his sporting success, Bishop said: "We did sport all the time as kids but our parents were never pushy, they just wanted us to have fun. I think that’s the best for development because you actually learn to love your sport rather than it be forced upon you".
Triathlon competitions The following list is based upon the official ITU rankings and the ITU's Athlete Profiles. Unless indicated otherwise, the following events are triathlons in the Elite Men's category. DateCompetitionRank14th Mar 20202020 Mooloolaba ITU Triathlon World Cup14th16th Aug 20192019 Tokyo ITU World Triathlon Olympic Qualification Event15th6th Jul 20192019 Hamburg Wasser World Triathlon38th29th Jun 20192019 Groupe Copley World Triathlon Montreal29th9th Jun 20192019 AJ Bell World Triathlon Leeds13th18 May 20192019 ITU World Triathlon Yokohama20th9th Mar 20192019 Daman World Triathlon Mixed Relay Series Abu Dhabi7th8th Mar 20192019 Daman World Triathlon Abu Dhabi9th16th Sep 20182018 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Gold Coast23rd26th Aug 20182018 ITU World Triathlon Montreal24th27th Jul 20182018 ITU World Triathlon EdmontonDNF15th Jul 20182018 Hamburg ITU Triathlon Mixed Relay World Championships4th14th Jul 20182018 ITU World Triathlon Hamburg17th10th Jun 20182018 ITU World Triathlon Leeds6th6th Jun 20182018 ITU World Triathlon Mixed Relay Series Nottingham2nd12 May 20182018 ITU World Triathlon Yokohama24th5th Apr 20182018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games19th2nd Mar 20182018 ITU World Triathlon Abu Dhabi14th16th Sep 20172017 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Rotterdam10th26th Aug 20172017 ITU World Triathlon Stockholm6th16th Jul 20172017 Hamburg ITU Triathlon Mixed Relay World Championships4th15th Jul 20172017 ITU World Triathlon Hamburg12th11th Jun 20172017 ITU World Triathlon Leeds5th13 May 20172017 ITU World Triathlon Yokohama12th4th Mar 20172017 ITU World Triathlon Abu Dhabi2nd18th Sep 20162016 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Cozumel33rd4th Sep 20162016 ITU World Triathlon Edmonton5th17th Jul 20162016 Hamburg ITU Triathlon Mixed Relay World Championships7th16th Jul 20162016 ITU World Triathlon Hamburg49th12th Jun 20162016 ITU World Triathlon Leeds20th29 May 20162016 Lisbon ETU Triathlon European Championships (Mixed Relay)1st28 May 20162016 Lisbon ETU Triathlon European Championships19th14 May 20162016 ITU World Triathlon Yokohama49th9th Apr 20162016 ITU World Triathlon Gold Coast42nd5th Mar 20162016 ITU World Triathlon Abu Dhabi32nd6th Sep 20152015 ITU World Triathlon Edmonton11th2nd Aug 20152015 Rio de Janeiro ITU World Olympic Qualification Event33rd12th Jul 20152015 Geneva ETU Triathlon European Championships (Mixed Relay)3rd11th Jul 20152015 Geneva ETU Triathlon European Championships5th14th Jun 20152015 Baku European Games16th31 May 20152015 ITU World Triathlon London49th16 May 20152015 ITU World Triathlon YokohamaDNF3 May 20152015 Antalya ETU Triathlon European Cup12th29th Mar 20152015 ITU World Triathlon Auckland13th14th Mar 20152015 Mooloolaba ITU Triathlon World Cup19th12th Oct 20142014 Cartagena ITU Triathlon World Cup16th5th Oct 20142014 Cozumel ITU Triathlon World Cup30th28th Sep 20142014 Alanya ITU Triathlon World Cup12th21st Sep 20142014 Madrid ETU Triathlon European Cup Final6th23rd Aug 20142014 ITU World Triathlon Stockholm13th6th Apr 20142014 ITU World Triathlon Auckland28th23rd Mar 20142014 New Plymouth ITU Triathlon World Cup27th15th Mar 20142014 Mooloolaba ITU Triathlon World Cup6th12th Sep 20132013 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final London (U23)31st29th Jun 20132013 Holten ETU Triathlon U23 and Youth European Championships22nd20th Oct 20122012 Barfoot and Thompson World Triathlon Grand Final Auckland (U23)3rd2nd Sep 20122012 Aguilas ETU Triathlon U23 and Youth European Championships (Mixed Relay)3rd1st Sep 20122012 Aguilas ETU Triathlon U23 and Youth European Championships (U23)3rd7th Jul 20122012 Holten ITU Triathlon Premium European Cup2nd10th Jun 20122012 Cremona ITU Sprint Triathlon European Cup1st10th Sep 20112011 ITU World Championship Grand Final Beijing (U23)3rd20th Aug 20112011 Lausanne ITU Elite Sprint Triathlon World Championships23rd31st Jul 20112011 Banyoles ITU Triathlon Premium European Cup5th12th Sep 20102010 ITU Triathlon World Championship Grand Final Budapest (Junior)2nd4th Jul 20102010 Athlone ETU Triathlon European Championships (Junior)4th1 May 20102010 Nancy ETU Duathlon European Championships (Junior)3rd5th Jul 20092009 Holten ETU Triathlon European Championships (Junior)5th23 May 20092009 Budapest ETU Duathlon European Championships (Junior)21st16th Jan 20092009 Australian Youth Olympic Festival16th27th Sep 20082008 Rimini ITU Duathlon World Championships (Junior)24th28th Jun 20082008 Holten ETU Triathlon Junior European Cup (Junior)1st24 May 20082008 Serres ETU Duathlon European Championships (Junior)7th
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