Bound for Beijing
By Kathleen Nelson
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
06/23/2008
Sarah Haskins celebrates after qualifying for the 2008 Olympics in the Hy-Vee Triathlon in West Des Moines, Iowa, on Sunday. Haskins secured the final spot on the three-member U.S. women's team with a sixth-place finish Sunday. (Kevin Sanders/AP)
WEST DES MOINES, IOWA — Sarah Haskins draped herself in the flag after qualifying for the U.S. Olympic triathlon team Sunday with a sixth-place finish in the Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon World Cup race.
Granted, the scene almost has become cliché to viewers. But not to the athletes. Long after the obligatory moment with photographers, Haskins was still clutching for dear life.
That flag wasn't going anywhere.
"This is amazing," she said. "It's been my dream since I was a little girl, watching the Olympics on television."
Except that when Haskins was watching with her family in west St. Louis County, she dreamed first of being a swimmer, as a member of the Parkway Swim Club, then of being a runner, after winning a state cross country championship at Parkway South. Triathlon didn't enter the picture until 2000, when it became an Olympic sport and Haskins was nearing the end of her running career at Tulsa.
Haskins had the inside track on the final Olympic spot before Sunday's race. She had finished second in each of the previous qualifiers, and only one other woman had a chance to take the spot, Sarah Groff, who had to be the first American across the line. Haskins also was coming off a strong showing two weeks ago at the World Championships in Vancouver, British Columbia, where she finished second.
The pair emerged from the 1,500-meter swim second and third, less than a second apart, and Groff glued herself to Haskins' shoulder through the 40K (25-mile) bike. The pair were part of the 10-person lead group. "I hoped to make a move on the bike," Haskins said. "The wind and the hills on the course made that tough."
She used a quick burst about 800 meters from the transition area to enter and leave ahead of the field, 10 seconds ahead of Groff at the start of the 10K (6.2-mile) run. "I've really been working on transitions," she said. "The main goal was to be first out, so I was really happy."
From that point, Haskins lost ground to Australian Emma Snowsill, who pulled away from the field and won the race in 2 hours, 3 minutes, 15 seconds, and four others, including Olympic teammate Laura Bennett. Haskins finished in 2:05:45.
More important, she put time between herself and Groff, who faded to finish ninth in 2:08:57 and was the fifth American to cross the line.
Haskins and Bennett will be joined in Beijing by Julie Swail Ertel, who finished seventh Sunday in 2:07:12. The men's team also was completed Sunday, when Hunter Kemper joined Jarrod Shoemaker and Matt Reed by finishing sixth in the men's elite race, won by Rasmus Henning of Denmark in 1:54:21. Kemper finished in 1:54:58.
Another St. Louisan, Jillian Petersen, finished 18th in the women's race, in 2:13:11. Petersen recently moved to Colorado Springs to train and qualified for the race just six weeks ago by winning a continental-level race, the circuit ranked just below world cup, in Mazatlan, Mexico. She emerged from the swim with the last group but sped up on the bike leg and passed several groups. "This was great," she said. "Just being here met my goal for the season."
The bright sunshine, low humidity and temperature near 80 were ideal Sunday, unlike the weather for the past two weeks, which put the event on a roller-coaster ride. Heavy rain and flooding forced a change in venue to West Des Moines, and format to a run-bike-run, placing the elite race on hold. When bacteria levels decreased in area lakes Thursday, organizers reverted to the original swim-bike-run format.
knelson@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8233
