With their career stories paralleling in many ways, Paula Findlay sees in Kirsten Sweetland a motivational figure.
Victoria’s Sweetland heads into the 2014 International Triathlon Union women’s world championship race Saturday in Edmonton having fashioned one of the great recent Canadian sports comeback tales. Findlay hopes to be with her every step of the way.
Former world junior champion Sweetland battled back from career-threatening injuries, which derailed her promising career for nearly three years. The Islander has rallied this year with the silver medal at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, bronze at the Hamburg World Series race and seventh-place finishes in the Chicago and Cape Town World Series races.
Findlay is a native of Edmonton who splits her training between Victoria and Boulder, Colorado. She too has a well-documented tale of injury woes, out of which she is attempting to climb. The winner of a stunning five World Series races in 2010 and 2011, Findlay was world No. 1, but a nagging hip injury saw her fade to last place in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Her anguish at the finish line was palpable and there for the nation to see.
“I was so emotional at that time … but that’s water under the bridge,” she says.
Yet a lot of water had to cross under that bridge for the moment to completely pass.
“I was losing love for the sport the last three years but I’m having fun in it again,” said Findlay.
A recent win in the Kelowna triathlon earned her a spot on the Canadian team for the world championships Saturday alongside Sweetland.
“I had a stress fracture in March, so the year did not start out great,” said Findlay.
But she drew inspiration from Sweetland’s comeback.
“I’ve looked up to Kirsten,” said Findlay.
“We’ve gone through all these rough patches. But it shows what can be done if we keep picking ourselves back up and keep believing in ourselves. Rio is in the back of my head.”
