Elite Nationals News & Notes

• Bio Updates for Competing USA Triathlon National Program Athletes (PDF)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — With many of the top Olympic-distance triathletes in the United States — and on the international scene — set to descend on Buffalo’s Nickel City Triathlon for the 2011 USA Triathlon Elite National Championship, USA Triathlon takes a look at some of the key news and notes entering Saturday’s action.

• In addition to serving as the 2011 USA Triathlon Elite National Championship, Saturday’s elite races also function the Buffalo ITU Pan American Cup and the fourth of five stops of the 2011 USA Triathlon Elite Race Series, a draft-legal domestic circuit.

• USA Triathlon National Team members and Beijing Olympians Laura Bennett (Boulder, Colo.) and Jarrod Shoemaker (Maynard, Mass.) will look to repeat as elite national champions after winning in Tuscaloosa, Ala., a year ago. Shoemaker aims for his second title, and Bennett seeks her third after breaking the tape in 2003 and 2010. No athlete has repeated as elite national champion since Julie Ertel went back-to-back in 2007-08. No male has won consecutive titles since Hunter Kemper in 2005-06.

• Three-time Olympian Hunter Kemper (Colorado Springs, Colo.) looks for a record-tying seventh elite national crown in Buffalo. Kemper’s six titles (2006, 2005, 2003, 2001, 1999, 1998) equal Scott Molina for the most all-time men’s championships. Karen Smyers holds the overall record with seven elite national crowns, including six straight from 1990-95.

• 2012 U.S. Olympic qualifier Gwen Jorgensen (Milwaukee, Wis.) will compete in just her second Elite Nationals in Buffalo. The race also marks her first domestic draft-legal event since qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Triathlon Team for the London Games on Aug. 6. Jorgensen was fifth at last year’s Elite Nationals and has finished in the top eight in 13 of her 16 career ITU events.

• In addition to the top-flight U.S. athletes slated to compete in Buffalo, a host of talented international competitors will toe the starting line, as the event also serves as the Buffalo ITU Pan American Cup. The headliner is Great Britain’s Helen Jenkins, winner of the 2011 ITU World Championship Series. She won the first stop of the 2011 USA Triathlon Elite Race Series on March 5 in Clermont, Fla. Her husband, Marc Jenkins, will compete in the men’s race. International athletes are not eligible to earn a U.S. national title but can claim Elite Race Series points and prize money.  

• Three of world’s top Olympic-distance women’s athletes will compete in Buffalo. Helen Jenkins (first), Laura Bennett (eighth) and Gwen Jorgensen (11th) rate as three of the top 11 women in this year’s ITU World Championship Series rankings.

• A $75,000 total prize purse, which includes $25,000 for the top five American finishers, will be on the line for the elites in Buffalo. The overall winners will claim $6,250 apiece, and an additional $3,750 will go to the top U.S. male and female finishers.

• Under-23 standouts Kaitlin Shiver (Satellite Beach, Fla.) and Greg Billington (Colorado Springs, Colo.) will look to build on respective fourth-place finishes at the ITU Under-23 World Championships in Beijing, China, earlier this month. U23 national titles are on the line in this weekend’s elite races. Shiver also won the 2011 USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championship on April 9 in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

• Kaitlin Shiver currently leads the women’s Elite Race Series with 30 points through three events, while Hunter Kemper is one of three men atop the standings with 25 points. The Buffalo event offers double points, with 50 points going to the winners, so this weekend’s event will go a long way in determining the overall series victors. The series concludes Oct. 9 in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

• Beijing Olympian Matt Reed (Boulder, Colo.) is slated to compete in his first ITU draft-legal event since taking fourth at 2010 Elite Nationals this weekend. He won elite national titles in 2004 and 2008.