Courtesy: USAT

USA Triathlon has announced its elite athletes of the year for 2003.

U.S. national champions Laura Reback (North Palm Beach, Fla.) and Hunter Kemper (Longwood, Fla.) were named elite triathletes of the year. Andy Potts (Princeton, N.J.) and Julie Swail (Irvine, Calif.) were named elite rookie triathletes of the year.

Kemper and Reback's names were turned in to the U.S. Olympic Committee for consideration for USOC athletes of the year.

Greg Watson (Newark, Del.) and Desiree Ficker (Potomac, Md.) were named elite duathletes of the year. Derek Kite (Malibu, Calif.) and Cecily Tynan (Philadelphia, Pa.) were named elite rookie duathletes of the year.

It promised to be a good year for Reback, 28, when she won the International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Cups in St. Petersburg, Fla., and Tongyeong, Korea (June 8); finished second at the ITU World Cup in Gamagori, Japan and third at the Edmonton, Canada ITU World Cup. Reback also won the U.S. national championship race, held at the Treasure Island ITU International Triathlon on Nov. 1 in San Francisco, Calif.

She capped off her season by finishing second at the ITU Triathlon World Championships on Dec. 6 in Queenstown, New Zealand. She finished the season ranked second in the world and the United States.

Kemper, 27, was named elite athlete of the year in 1999 and 2000. However he had the best season of his career in 2003, winning his first ITU World Cup race in Madrid, Spain and winning a gold medal at the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He finished second at the Treasure Island Triathlon in San Francisco, but was the first U.S. finisher, and so took home the national title.

He finished the season ranked 11th in the world and first in the United States.

Watson, 37, has won the elite duathlete of the year award every year since 2000. In 2003, he won the Blackwater Traverse Duathlon, the Lakehurst Duathlon and the DANNON duathlons in Carlsbad, Calif., Cathedral City, Calif., Haines City, Fla., Naperville, Ill., Lake Pleasant, Ariz., and Lake Stephens, Wash. He also won Powerman Alabama and was second at the duathlon national championships in Alpharetta, Ga.

He finished 28th at the 2003 ITU Duathlon World Championships in Switzerland.

Ficker, 27, won the DANNON duathlons in Lake Pleasant, Ariz., and Cathedral City, Calif., and was second in Mason, Ohio, and third in Haines City, Fla. She was the second U.S. finisher (sixth overall) at the U.S. duathlon national championships. She also won Powerman Alabama.

Potts, 27, finished third at the Bay Islands ITU International Triathlon in Honduras (March 8). He also had top-10 finishes at the ITU World Cups in Makuhari, Japan (seventh) and Gamagori, Japan (ninth).

He finished the season ranked 90th in the world, ninth in the United States, and will be eligible to qualify for the 2004 U.S. Olympic team.

Swail, 31, finished out of the top 10 only twice in her first season as an elite triathlete. She used her ninth-place finish at the Baker's Breakfast Cookie Triathlon in Bellingham, Wash., to qualify for the Pan American Games team. She finished eighth at the Pan Am Games. Swail also finished third at the Triathlon at Pacific Grove and fourth at the Pacific Coast Triathlon.

She finished the season ranked 105th in the world and will be eligible to qualify for the 2004 U.S. Olympic team.

Kite, 32, was the top U.S. finisher (21st overall) at the 2003 duathlon world championships. He was second at the DANNON Duathlon in Cathedral City, Calif., and fourth in Carlsbad, Calif.

Tynan, 34, was the fourth U.S. finisher and 25th overall at the 2003 world duathlon championships. She won the DANNON Duathlon in Lake Stephens, Wash., and was third at the DANNON race in Naperville, Ill, fourth in Lake Pleasant, Ariz., and fifth in Carlsbad, Calif.