Olivia, who is based in Loughborough, represented Wales at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and secured silver medals at the 2019 ITU U23 World Championships.
Olivia has achieved a lot for such a young athlete, with several top-five finishes in U23 ITU World Championship Grand Finals (2016, 2018, 2019). She has also taken gold in the Elite Women division at the 2019 Olsztyn ETU Sprint Triathlon European Cup as well as a number of Junior ETU European Series gold medals (2014, 2015, 2016).
Originally from near Newark in Nottinghamshire, Olivia is now a member of the UK Sport Lottery Funded World Class squad and is coached by Adam Elliott. She qualifies for the Welsh team because her dad is Welsh. She completed her A levels in June 2017 at the Girls Grammar School in Grantham and started at Loughborough University in October 2017 studying Industrial Design.
She got involved with Newark Athletics Club having grown up watching her mum run, and she is still a member now. Her parents took her to a learn to swim group before joining Newark Swimming Club.
Her first triathlon was completed on a mountain bike in Nottingham and she then joined 4Life Tri Club. She credits a 4Life training camp in the Alps with having established her cycling skills. She joined the East Midlands Academy at the age of 12 and was invited to be part of the England Talent Squad in 2012.
Recording her first gold medal in 2014 at the Penza ETU Triathlon U23 and Youth European Championships, Mathias’ medal-winning from continued into the following year with a silver in the Youth European Championship at Banyoles and a 1st place finish at Tiszaújváros, where she beat out fellow Great Britain team member Owen Bronwen by 12 seconds. In 2016, Olivia competed in her first Grand Final. She travelled to Portugal and returned with a silver medal for her involvement with Great Britain’s Mixed U23-Junior Relay team.
Olivia was added to the World Class performance squad for the 2018 season having achieved some impressive junior results in 2017, including sixth at the ITU World Championships in Rotterdam. In 2018 she stepped up to U23 level, and the longer, Olympic distance racing seems to suit her.
Major Results
She won individual and Mixed Relay medals at European U23 level to finish a successful 2018 season in which she was part of the Wales Mixed Relay Team that finished 6th at the Commonwealth Games in April.
Olivia had a consistent 2019 with a series of top ten finishes, including victory at the Olsztyn ETU Sprint Triathlon European Cup as well as two silver medals in the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final at Lausanne in U23 Women and the Mixed U23-Junior Relay.
Despite an enforced break from international competition due to the pandemic, 2021 was another year of consistency and progression for Olivia, including mixed relay gold and her World Triathlon Championship Series debut.
AJ Bell 2021 World Triathlon Leeds was Olivia’s first Championship Series event, finishing 25th in a competitive field. Medals followed at the Europe Triathlon Sprint and Relay Championships in Kitzbühel, Austria. Olivia claimed silver in the women’s U23 race, fifth overall, before being part of the British team which won mixed relay gold.
Olivia added another gold medal to her growing haul with victory at Europe Triathlon Cup Tiszaujvaros. After her debut in Leeds, Olivia made her second World Triathlon Championship Series appearance in Hamburg, Germany, including representing Great Britain in the mixed relay.
