NZDFit - The NOZERODAYS life podcast

Professional Triathlete Legend Karen Smyers Episode 111

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The world of triathlon has a few legends but not many with a 30 year professional career.

Karen Smyers competed as a professional triathlete for 30 years. In her lengthy career, she won seven

National and four World Championship titles, including a dramatic come-from-behind victory in the

Hawaiian Ironman World Championships in 1995. Her victory at the short-course ITU Triathlon World

Championship just 5 weeks later still earns her the distinction of being the only woman ever to win

triathlon’s two most prestigious races in the same year.

Her career didn't come without challenges and injuries. At what might have been considered the peak of her career she suffered

a severed hamstring muscle by shard of broken glass. An unexpected time-out but a welcome chance to begin a family.

Karen also had a near fatal bike accident after being struck by an eighteen-wheeler while training, and a battle with

thyroid cancer, which prompted Sports Illustrated to name her “The Triathlete Most Likely to Be Eaten

by a Shark” in Sydney. Instead, she came back to win her seventh Elite National Championship title in

August of 2001, just a week shy of her 40 th birthday. Karen was honored by her induction into USA

Triathlon’s and the International Triathlon Union’s Halls of Fame in both of their inaugural years. In May

2020, Karen has the honor of serving as the women’s coach of Team USA for the inaugural Collins

Cup, an event modeled after golf’s Ryder Cup to bring professional triathlon to a new level of notoriety

and value.

Currently, she shares her experience, optimism, and passion for racing as a coach, motivational

speaker and race organizer with her newly launched company Gallivant Racing. She has spearheaded

the all-volunteer-managed Lincoln Kids Triathlon for the past 17 years. She is a 1983 graduate of

Princeton University and lives in Lincoln, MA with daughter Jenna, son Casey, and husband and

frequent training partner Michael King. Let's meet Karen Smyers!

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