years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After the swim season
ended in 2007, Jorgensen spent her short offseason running. That’s when her high
school track coach
talked to her about trying out for the Badgers track team. “I loved swimming, but I
wouldn’t say that it was my best sport,”
Jorgensen says.
She impressed the Wisconsin track coach with a time trial, earning a spot on the team and
discovering that her
talent for running was truly extraordinary. In only two years on the
cross country team and three years on the track team, Jorgensen became one of the Badgers’ most decorated runners, capping her senior season in 2009 as the Big Ten indoor champ in the 3,000 and 5,000m events. Her winning time in the 5,000? 15:55:63. It’s no wonder Lindquist, USA Triathlon’s collegiate recruitment coordinator, took notice of her. But while Lindquist thought she’d found a future Olympian, Jorgensen had other post-collegiate plans. She graduated with a master’s
degree in accounting and took a job as a certified public accountant with Ernst and Young in Milwaukee. “I had actually never dreamed of
going to the Olympics,” Jorgensen says. But a stress fracture suffered
during her final track season made cross training look a lot more attractive. So Jorgensen gave in to Lindquist’s urging to compete as a triathlete. With help from coach Cindi
ACTUALLY NEVER DREAMED OF GOING TO THE
I “ HAD
OLYMPICS. ”
Bannink and Jorgensen’s boyfriend, pro cyclist Patrick Lemieux, Jorgensen got a handle on the
Jorgensen, known for her running prowess, posted a fourth-place finish at the 2012 ITU World Triathlon Series in Sydney. PHOTO BY DELLY CARR/ITU
cycling skills she needed to survive the draft-legal style of racing contested at the Olympics, and the rest, as they say, is history. At the London ITU race, Jorgensen posted the fastest run split of the day in 33:43 to finish second to Great Britain’s Helen Jenkins by seven seconds. Fellow American Sarah Groff, came
in 17 seconds behind Jorgensen to secure a spot with her on the U.S. Olympic triathlon team. Jorgensen is currently on a leave of absence from her job to prepare for London. Jorgensen credits her parents for giving
her the drive to become an Olympian — even if she had no idea that all of her efforts in college would lead her to an Olympic berth. “They’re hard working and dedicated,”
Jorgensen says. “From a young age I learned from them that it is important to give
everything you have in whatever you’re doing.”
USATRIATHLON.ORG USA TRIATHLON 45
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