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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | May 22, 1975 New York, USA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 0 in (1.52 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | www | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | paratriathlete | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability | proximal femoral focal deficiency | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability class | TRI-2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| Updated on 16 February 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sarah Reinertsen (born 22 May 1975) is an American Paralympic triathlete and former track athlete. She was born with proximal femoral focal deficiency, a bone-growth disorder; her affected leg was amputated above the knee at age seven. [1]
Inspired by amputee marathon runner Paddy Rossbach, [2] Reinertsen began to run at age 11. At her first international track meet, when she was 13, she broke the 100 m world record for female above-knee amputees. [2] Her T42 400 m world record time, set in 1999, still stands today. [3]
Reinertsen was a member of the US Disabled Track Team for 7 years. [4] She represented the US at the 1992 Summer Paralympics [5] but found herself racing arm amputees due to low numbers of female competitors. [6] Although she was then world record holder in her own classification, [6] she came last in her heat. [7]
Reinertsen was the first female leg amputee to complete the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. [8] She first attempted the race in 2004, but was disqualified when she reached the end of the bike course 15 minutes after cut-off time. She returned to Kona in 2005, with a motto of 'Unfinished Business', and crossed the finish line in just over 15 hours.
Reinertsen has run marathons around the world, including NYC, LA, Millennium New Zealand, London and Boston. [2] [9] In 2011, she was the first female leg amputee to run in the Great Wall Marathon in China, completing the 10k event in 1:49. [10]
Reinertsen has broken the women's above-knee amputee marathon record several times [11] but does not currently hold it. [12]
In 2003, [13] 2007 [14] and 2009, [15] Reinertsen was ITU Paratriathlon World Champion in her classification. She placed second (behind Melissa Stockwell) in 2011. [15] Reinertsen was a member of the USA Triathlon Paratriathlon National Team in 2008, [14] 2009, [16] 2010 [17] and 2011. [18]
While better-known for her success in Ironman Triathlon, Reinertsen states that her "focus for 2013 and beyond is to train to qualify for the (newly introduced, sprint distance) triathlon event at the Paralympics in 2016". [6] [19]
In 2006, Reinertsen competed with her friend, Ironman and prosthetist Peter Harsch, [20] on The Amazing Race 10 , where they were eliminated in 7th place.
Reinertsen is a spokesperson for Ossur [23] and the Challenged Athletes Foundation. [1]
In 2004, she was featured on the cover of Runner's World [24] and named one of the first eight "Heroes of Running" in the magazine. [13] She has also appeared on the cover of Triathlete magazine, [25] Max Sports & Fitness [26] and Competitor, [27] and was photographed naked for ESPN's The Body Issue. [28] Reinertsen was featured in the 2008 Lincoln MKZ 'Reach Higher' campaign [29] and the 2011 'Nike Throwdown' TV commercial. [30] Alongside elite athletes including Mirinda Carfrae, Chris Lieto, Nathan Adrian and Dara Torres, she is one of the faces of the 2012 Team Refuel/Got Chocolate Milk? campaign. [31]
In 2009, Reinertsen released a memoir, In a Single Bound: Losing My Leg, Finding Myself and Training for Life. [2]
She graduated from The George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs with a BA in Communication and International Affairs, and received her MA in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Southern California. [32] Formerly a sports journalist, once working for NBC, [11] she is now a motivational speaker. [33]
A native of New York, Reinertsen now lives and trains in California.
A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the disciplines included. The word is of Greek origin, from τρεῖς, 'three', and ἆθλος, 'competition'.
An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.9 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.2 km) bicycle ride and a marathon 26.22-mile (42.2 km) run completed in that order, a total of 140.6 miles (226.3 km). It is widely considered one of the most difficult one-day sporting events in the world.
Sandra "Sandy" Dukat is an American Paralympic athlete. Born with proximal femoral focal deficiency, she had her right leg amputated above the knee at the age of four. She has competed internationally in alpine skiing, swimming and triathlon. As of February 2013, she holds the marathon world record for above-knee amputee women.
Rudy Garcia-Tolson is a Paralympic swimmer, runner and triathlete from the USA.
Melissa Stockwell is an American two-time Paralympic triathlete, swimmer and former U.S. Army officer. Competing in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in three swimming events, she returned to race in the 2016 Paralympic Games and won a bronze medal in the inaugural triathlon event on September 11, 2016.
Amy Palmiero-Winters is a below-knee amputee, long-distance runner, and triathlete. She holds eleven world records in various events. In 2010, she was awarded the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States and the ESPN ESPY Award as the top female athlete with a disability in the world.
Paul Martin is an American amputee athlete, Paralympian, speaker, and author. Paul is considered one of the foremost amputee triathletes in history and holds or has held several records in various events.
Timothy O'Donnell is an American long-distance triathlete. He won the 2009 ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships, placed third at the 2015 Ironman World Championship, and was second at the 2019 Ironman World Championship.
Gwen Rosemary Jorgensen is an American distance runner and professional triathlete. She is the 2014 and 2015 ITU World Triathlon Series Champion. She has been named USA Triathlon's 2013 and 2014 Olympic/ITU Female Athlete of the Year. She was a member of the 2012 Olympic Team and again represented the United States in triathlon at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she won the USA's first ever triathlon gold medal with a time of 1 hour, 56 minutes, and 16 seconds.
John Alexander Maclean, OAM is an Australian triathlete, rower, and motivational speaker. A promising rugby league player in his youth, he became a paraplegic after being knocked from his bicycle by a truck in 1988. He subsequently became the first paraplegic to finish the Ironman World Championship and the first to swim the English Channel. Later, he was part of the athletics team at both the Olympics and Paralympics in 2000, and won a silver medal in rowing at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. In 2014, he completed the Nepean Triathlon without using a wheelchair, after regaining some use of his legs through Ware K Tremor therapy. He is the founder of the John Maclean Foundation, which assists wheelchair users under the age of 18. As a motivational speaker, his clients have included eBay and Pfizer.
Paratriathlon classification is the classification system for athletes participating in paratriathlon. It is governed by the World Triathlon. The sport has been included in the 2016 Summer Paralympics.
Mary Beth Ellis is a retired American long-distance triathlete. She holds the record for the fastest iron-distance race by an American woman, set at Ironman Austria in 2011 with a time of 8:43:34. She is the 2015 ITU Long Distance Triathlon champion and has taken second place at both the 2008 and 2009 Ironman 70.3 World Championship. She has been named USA Triathlon's Non-Olympic/ITU Female Athlete of the Year for both 2011 and 2012.
Bill Chaffey is an Australian paratriathlete who won his fifth world championship in 2015. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics when paratriathlon made its debut at the Paralympics.
Kathleen Margaret "Katie" Kelly is an Australian paratriathlete, who has a degenerative disease known as Usher syndrome. Kelly began competing in the PT5 paratriathlon classification in February 2015 when her condition deteriorated to a legally blind state. She has just 30 per cent of her vision. With her guide Michellie Jones, Kelly won gold medals at the 2015 and 2017 ITU World Championships and 2016 Rio Paralympics. She competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Brant Garvey is an Australian leg amputee paratriathlete. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics when paratriathlon made its debut at the Paralympics.
Emily Tapp is an Australian wheelchair Paralympic athlete and triathlete. She was selected to represent Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in athletics but was forced to withdraw before the Games due to a burns injury. She represented Australia at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in paratriathlon.
Allysa Seely is an American paratriathlete and gold medalist at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Lucy Charles-Barclay is an English professional triathlete specialising in the Ironman and 70.3 ("half-Ironman") distances. She is the 2023 World Ironman champion and the 2021 World Champion in the 70.3 discipline, both under the authority of the World Triathlon Corporation. In between, she won the World Triathlon Long Distance Championships in 2022. In 2023, she broke the course record for the iconic Kona Ironman course.
Lauren Parker is an Australian para-triathlete and para-cyclist. She won a silver medal (triathlon) at the 2020 Summer Paralympics and two gold and silver (cycling) medals at the 2024 Summer Paralympics.
Megan Fisher is a Canadian-American Paralympic athlete. She has won one gold, two silver, and one bronze medal for Team USA at the Paralympic Games.
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