One of Tayla Liddle's earliest moments of expressing a strong desire to follow in her mom's footsteps in triathlon and physical therapy occurred in July 2017, after an early morning of swimming and biking at Rigby Lake with her mom and two siblings.
"I look up to her," Tayla had said.
At the time, she was a 14-year-old incoming Idaho Falls High School freshman and her mom, Stephanie Liddle, owner of Performance Therapy in Idaho Falls, was training for the 2017 Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Nine years, two graduations, a college swimming career and several triathlons later, Tayla has qualified for an international triathlon with Stephanie and will soon take the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE).
Mother and daughter will represent Team USA at the World Triathlon Championship Finals in September 2027 in Hamburg, Germany, thanks to their finishes on August 8 at the USA Triathlon National Championships in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Tayla finished in two hours, 34 minutes and eight seconds for 15th place in the women's 20-24 age division of the Olympic distance triathlon while Stephanie finished in two hours, 40 minutes for 12th place in the women's 55-59 age division Olympic distance triathlon, qualifying for Team USA by placing in the top 18 in their age divisions.
An Olympic distance triathlon consists of a 1.5k swim, 40k bike ride and 10k run, which is the format for triathlon in the summer Olympic Games. A total of 1,663 men and women across all age divisions completed the Olympic distance triathlon at nationals.
It was the first triathlon national championship appearance for Tayla and the second for Stephanie, who qualified for nationals several times previously, but only competed there once before this year. Both women have completed triathlons in sprint, Olympic and Ironman distances.
Tayla committed to competing at nationals since receiving official confirmation last year that she had qualified.
"I said, 'I'm going even if no one goes with me,'" Tayla said. "My brother qualified too, but he didn't end up going because he didn't know where he was gonna be with work."
Stephanie agreed to travel to support Tayla, but she personally did not commit to competing at nationals until two weeks before Milwaukee. A torn tendon suffered in April impacted her decision. She said she felt more confidence about Tayla's chances of qualifying for Team USA than her own.
"I didn't run until 3.5 weeks before nationals," Stephanie said. "That race was built on 18 miles total. I didn't want to push it."
All the while, the possibility of qualifying for worlds together was "absolutely not" something either of them had thought about years ago, Stephanie said.
"It just played out," said Stephanie, a 1987 Idaho Falls graduate. "It was just, 'We're gonna do this and see how we do.'"
Balancing acts
The Liddles have been early risers for as long as they can remember.
Even as teenage athletes, Tayla (Compass Academy Class of 2021) and older sister Shaylee (Idaho Falls Class of 2018) and younger brother Jaiden (Idaho Falls Class of 2024) set their alarms for as early as 5 a.m. each day. All three competed for the Tigers' swim team, with Shaylee contributing to the 2016 4A state team title and Tayla the 2018 4A state team title, and all three have completed Ironmans, picking up triathlon at a young age upon following Stephanie and their dad, Jim, into it.
Additionally, Tayla and Jaiden competed in cross country (two years for Tayla, four years for Jaiden, who was a senior on I.F.'s 2023 4A boys state championship team), track (three years each for Tayla and Jaiden) and were members of the Snake River Valley Water Polo Club.
Stephanie described all three children as excellent at time management to this day. Tayla credited her high school routine for preparing her for college. She graduated from Northern State University (Aberdeen, South Dakota) in May 2024 upon obtaining her Bachelor of Science in human performance/sports science in three years.
She took courses through the summers and swam all three years − her first two at Western Colorado University and her third at Northern State. At WCU, she worked at a grocery store and taught swim lessons. Northern State saw her work as a lifeguard and at an on-campus convenience store. Tayla would go for runs before class and bike rides after class.
"I was taking lots of credits too, 20 to 21 hours a week," Tayla said. "I'd go to bed at nine unless I got off work at 10. I'd study during lunch, just trying to use those times to get stuff done for school."
Mother and daughter prepared for nationals with countless more early mornings. Stephanie, who opened Performance Therapy in 2010, does shorter workouts on weekdays and long bike rides on weekends, while Tayla fits workouts around her clinical rotations in Alpine, Wyoming.
At nationals, each of them had moments where they dug deep.
Tayla said she estimated that 20 people completed the swim before her. Upon finishing the bike portion, she saw 10 bikes in the transition area for the run, indicating the number of people ahead of her.
"I was like, 'I've still got this,'" Tayla said. "I think I held an 8:15 pace the whole race. I let a few people pass me and was like, 'I'm not gonna let anyone else pass me.' Then this one girl came flying by me. I was like, 'What if that was my spot to qualify?'"
Much to her relief, Tayla learned upon finishing that she indeed qualified for Team USA.
Stephanie had a similar experience in her age division upon noticing several bikes already gone after completing the swim. A cyclist from a young age, Stephanie was encouraged after finishing the bike portion.
"I got on the bike and I gave it every soul I had," Stephanie said. "When I came back, I saw 10 bikes. I was like, 'Oh yeah. I can do this.' I came in 12th and I was so stinking happy. I didn't think it was gonna happen. I ran 8:40 per mile."
The next adventure
The Liddles are always up for adventure, with or without a triathlon.
Stephanie and Tayla both ski and have climbed the Grand Teton, and they plan to soon compete in the Jackson Hole Picnic — an unsanctioned mountaineering-style triathlon consisting of a 46-mile bike from Jackson Square to Jenny Lake East Overlook and back, a 2.6-mile swim across Jenny Lake and a 16-mile, 7,000-foot hike up Grand Teton. They will put their own twist on it, however, by each completing the bike and swim portions before choosing their own mountain ascents separate from the race.
"We're just doing it for fun," Stephanie said, laughing at the acknowledgement that most people would consider their 'fun' activities to be grueling commitments.
Triathlon has taken Stephanie across the United States and to Whistler and Edmonton, Canada, and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Additionally, she has skied in Japan and hiked and mountain biked in Spain.
Next year's world finals will be the first visit to Germany for both women and a first trip to Europe for Tayla, who has traveled to Mexico and Costa Rica and will join Stephanie in January for a ski trip to Japan.
"I've never been over the pond, which is epic," Tayla said. "I want to try the beer."
"I really want to be there, if I can, for two weeks if I can find coverage (at Performance Therapy)," Stephanie added. "I want to try to bring my mountain bike."
They recently received their emails to sign up and pay to compete at world finals, thus beginning a year-long commitment to train and stay healthy. Upon concluding her clinicals in September, Tayla will have completed Northern Arizona University's Doctor of Physical Therapy Program and will take her board exam in October to become licensed. She said she plans to work for Stephanie for a while and then do travel PT.
"I've wanted to be a physical therapist for a long time," Tayla said. "I love helping athletes."
And who better to understand that passion and dedication than her mom.
"It makes me the proudest mom ever," Stephanie said. "She chose it on her own. It was never, 'I want you to do this.' I've always been happy (my children) pursue things and they love it and they're working hard, whether that's through sports or a career. I love what I do."
Seeing her parents' longevity as athletes has further inspired Tayla, who wishes to do the same.
"They are both still extremely active," Tayla said. "Dad just did the Butte 50 (mountain bike race in Montana) then the Boise 70.3 (Ironman) the next week. I really want to be as active as they are at that age."