Courtesy of Ellie Saksena

As much as Bowdoin is a school renowned for its DIII athletics, only a select few student-athletes can say that their physical triumphs extend beyond the College or the NESCAC. Even fewer can say they are a world-class competitor at their respective sport, but Ellie Saksena ’26 is one such athlete.

This past summer, Saksena came in third in the Mixed Relay at the 2026 USA Triathlon National Championships held in Milwaukee, Wis. This achievement qualified her for the 2027 Triathlon World Championship Finals, where she will be representing the United States next September in Hamburg, Germany. It’s a milestone many could only dream of, but for Saksena, it’s the latest accomplishment of her profound and extensive athletic career.

“I completed my first triathlon at nine years old,” Saksensa wrote in an email to the Orient. “It was actually the New England Kids Triathlon hosted by MIT in Boston … I may have only been a little faster than the average finisher in my age group, but I was ranked really low in swimming. I begged my parents to sign me up for a swim team/formal training so I could get better at it and try competing in the New England Kids Triathlon again the following year.”

And she did. She swam, biked and ran in other kids’ triathlons in subsequent years. All the while—and like any good athlete—she noted her weak areas and devoted time to improving.

“By sixth grade, I was on two soccer teams, a cycling team, [a] swim team and a running team.” Saksena wrote. “My whole life was sports at this point, and I couldn’t get enough … From the beginning, I learned that Triathlon is something I could always get better at, and I really fell in love with the process.”

Although triathlon is traditionally a solo sport, it was a team effort in Saksena’s family to support her training and competition. Her parents and siblings played an important role in her growth as an athlete from childhood to adolescence.

“During my early days when I competed in kids triathlons, it was a full family event,”  Saksena wrote. “My siblings raced alongside me for my first few years, and during these times, my mom and my dad would load the car, bring my siblings and I to the venue and cheer us on as we went by. As I grew older, my mom would be the main point person to look out for triathlons for me to compete in, and as my family got busy and I was able to organize my own life, triathlons became a mother-daughter activity with just me and my mom … Now I operate pretty independently with the support of my family. I’m booking international races and cross checking travel plans to make it work.”

Saksena keeps busy at Bowdoin; she runs cross country and track for the Polar Bears. Additionally, she is the principal cellist of the Bowdoin Symphony Orchestra, a regularly attending Peucinian Fellow and a Time Management Peer Coach at the Baldwin Center for Learning and Teaching. Though her schedule is rigorous, she has found a way to not only balance her extracurriculars, but to have them support her as well.

“Each of my activities reinforce the others,” Saksena wrote. “Everything that is not athletics gives me an opportunity to rest my body, and everything athletics serves to relax my mind. When I’m coaching a peer on time management, all of the ideas, solutions and topics get reinforced into my personal routines. There’s always ways to improve, and so when someone comes in to get support in creating a healthy sleep routine, for example, I often use myself as a guinea pig to try the things out we come up with in sessions.”

But of course, the 2027 Triathlon World Championship Finals are still a key focus for Saksena. Upping her training during her fall semester requires evaluating her other commitments while prioritizing herself.

“What do I know so far?,” Saksena wrote. “I will be placed on a swim training program while I train and run for Bowdoin. This will serve as cross training during the running season. It’s definitely going to be tight. Doing all the things I do, one needs to question, ‘Is this important to me, and should I make this a priority in my life?’ My training schedule, as it picks up again, will in all honesty take up a good chunk of my time when I’m not working on my studies. I find time to study with friends and go out occasionally. And I find the most joy in my extracurriculars where I feel bonded with my friends and campus community.”

While her athletic progression requires an immense amount of self-reflection, Saksena hasn’t lost track of those who have had her back—all the way from the beginning of her career to now.

“I have been keeping a running list of everyone who’s told me they want to be “remembered” once I make it big—starting with the people who used to cheer me on when I was nine. The list is still open and still growing,” Saksena wrote.