Sarah Segrest’s journey to becoming a Team USA-qualifying triathlete began on a whim.
She decided to sign up for a half-Ironman triathlon — with no training. Born in Vietnam and adopted at age 1, she became a U.S. citizen and grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 2024, she moved to Fort Worth from Knoxville, Tennessee, for a fresh start following a breakup. That’s when she realized she needed a new challenge.
Her first triathlon sparked a love for the sport that led her to become the first Vietnamese person to win a USA Triathlon Texas State Championship.
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52 Faces of Community is a Fort Worth Report weekly series spotlighting local unsung heroes. It is sponsored by Central Market, H-E-B and JPS Health Network.
At the end of the year, these rarely recognized heroes will gather for a luncheon where the Report will announce one honoree to represent Tarrant County at the Jefferson Awards in Washington, D.C.
Now, between her volunteer work and newly launched triathlon community, The Collective Tri, she hopes she can use her story to inspire other members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.
Segrest’s work and passion earned her recognition in 52 Faces of Community, the Fort Worth Report’s weekly series spotlighting unsung heroes in Tarrant County.
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“Everyone wants to know what their purpose is in life, and I feel like you have to serve something that’s higher than yourself to understand your purpose,” Segrest said.
Recently, she announced the launch of The Collective Tri alongside co-founder Yaqin Al-Amin. The Collective Tri is not your usual run club, she said.
“I’ve been a part of enough run clubs to know that they always talk about community, but you don’t know about community until you have boots on the ground helping out,” Segrest said.
The club will be open to people at each level in their journey with triathlons, whether they are an Olympian or just getting interested in the sport, Segrest said.
“Doing triathlons isn’t out of reach for anyone,” Al-Amin said. “Everyone can do it, it just takes a certain amount of time and effort. That’s what Sarah has shown me the entire way.”
As someone who grew up volunteering along with her family, creating a culture around community-focused philanthropy is important to Segrest.
“We want to start going to different states and partnering with run clubs and pelotons and raise money,” Segrest said. “We not only want to donate to charity, but we want to serve the community.”
Segrest, 24, was constantly involved in sports growing up in Charlotte, North Carolina. In high school, she participated in soccer, ballet, cross country and horseback riding.
Her first triathlon came at the suggestion of a friend.
“They were like, ‘You should do a half-Ironman one day,’ and I was like, ‘No, thank you,’” Segrest said. “I was like, I can barely swim, I hate running.”
Despite her initial hesitation, she signed up and competed. She can still remember contemplating giving up in the last 2 miles.
“I was just about ready to hop off the bike and call it a day, but my parents were there and my friends all knew I was doing the race,” Segrest said. “It just pushed me to finish it.”
Since that first race, she won a state championship and is now qualified for the 2026 Draft-Legal Sprint World Championship.
“Doing triathlons isn’t out of reach for anyone. Everyone can do it, it just takes a certain amount of time and effort. That’s what Sarah has shown me the entire way.”
Yaqin Al-Amin, co-founder of The Collective Tri
Following the state championship, Segrest spoke with representatives from USA Triathlon about her win. During that conversation, they told her that she was the first Vietnam-born person to win the championship, she said.
“It just meant so much more because I haven’t been back to Vietnam or had communication with my birth mother,” Segrest said.
Her accomplishment was shared via Instagram, where she read comments about what it meant to the Vietnamese and Asian American and Pacific Islander community.
“I started doing triathlons for myself and now, it’s like wow,” Segrest said. “I am a representation of where I came from, too.”
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Segrest shares her story online in hopes of inspiring others.
One day, she received an email from Gold House, a nonprofit organization focused on advocacy for the empowerment of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.
The group offered her membership.
“Being invited into Gold House has just been such an accomplishment because I see all of the other members advocating for the community,” Segrest said. “It was just something that was like, wow, what I am doing is being seen, and I want to continue pushing more women into the sport and more of the Asian community.”
As for the future, Segrest said she has aspirations of participating in the Olympics. But she has another goal.
“I didn’t really have a lot of people that I looked up to,” Segrest said. “When I did, it was people that looked like me. I just want to be someone others can look up to.”
Chris Moss is a reporting fellow for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at chris.moss@fortworthreport.org.
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