USAT names top elite athletes of the year

Gwen Jorgensen tops the list of USA Triathlon (USAT)’s 13 Elite Triathletes of the Year. She took the Olympic/ITU Athlete of the Year category. Her outstanding performances include a history-making eight career ITU World Triathlon Series (WTS) wins. She took five back-to-back wins in WTS events in 2014, including the world title, making her the first to do so for the U.S. in 10 years.

Florida’s Jarrod Shoemaker (married to Canadian born Alicia Kaye) took the Olympic/ITU Athlete of the Year category. Shoemaker’s eight top-10 finishes made him the top-ranked American in the ITU standings. He finished seventh in the Grand Final in Edmonton.

Ontario native Alicia Kaye was named one of three Non-Drafting Athletes of the Year with five wins in 2014. She also won her debut Ironman 70.3 in Muskoka in 2014. Ironman superstars Meredith Kessler and Ben Hoffman also took top honours. Kessler won six events, including Ironman New Zealand and Ironman Arizona. She was fourth in Kona. Hoffman took six podium finishes in 2014 and second in Kona—the top US finish since 2009.

Kendall Gretsch and Aaron Scheidies took Paratriathletes of the Year. Gretsch won her sport class in four events and Scheidies took five events. Both athletes won the ITU Paratriathlon World Championships, PATCO Championships and USA Paratriathlon Nationals. USAT will announce all its Athlete of the Year selections this week, including juniors, age-group triathletes and duathletes.