We are starting a new interview series featuring industry people who are doing what they are preaching. Our first subject of “industry athlete” is Kevin O’Connor, the owner of Gear West Bike & Tri. He has been as fast as 9:13 in Kona and just recently finished in 9:35.

Matty Reed was victorious at the 2008 St. Anthony’s triathlon and had the fastest bike split of the day. Sarah Haskins convincingly won the women’s event and showed that she is a force to be reckoned with come Hy-Vee.

Current World Cup leader Tim Don (GBR) won the 2008 Tongyeong BG Triathlon World Cup in Korea with a blazing fast run. Veteran Samantha Warriner (NZL) had to outduel rookie Hollie Avil (GBR) for the crown in the women’s race.

Sarah Haskins narrowly missed taking the automatic qualification spot at the 2008 US Olympic Trials in Tuscaloosa, AL, but put herself in a good position to be considered for the final slot. She talked to Slowtwitch about racing and training.

Dave Martin, a 66-year old retired Solana Beach veterinarian and member of the San Diego Triathlon Club, was killed today during a rare shark attack while swimming off the coast of Solana Beach.

Jay Prasuhn has established a reputation for competence, fairness and for being exceptionally well-informed. He’s one of triathlon’s wordsmiths and as our new Senior Editor we’re glad to report he’ll be smithing his words here.

Campagnolo projects a kinder, gentler image for its U.S. operations, through hiring Tom Kattus to run its North American office. Kattus has a multisport background, so, could this mean more Chorus and Record in the transition area?

Kirsten Sweetland won the 2006 Triathlon Junior World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland and continued to impress during her 2007 rookie pro ITU season. We wanted to know more about this 19 year old from Nanaimo, British Columbia.

Earlier this year Michael Klueh was part of the Longhorn 800m relay team that set a new American record in 6:10.55, breaking the previous mark of 6:14.14 set by Club Wolverine. Later this summer he’ll try to qualify for the Olympics in the the 200, 400 and 1500m freestyle.

Despite temperatures in the high 90s and 94% humidity, Olaf Sabatschus won the inaugural Ironman China with a very impressive running performance. Belinda Granger looked smooth throughout the women’s race and took the title with an almost 30 minute cushion.

The U.S. Olympic Trials in triathlon feature 21 men and women racing for 2 slots. The link to our online coverage is found here.

Our ITU athlete-in-the-field Colin Jenkins made his way over to Japan for the Ishigaki World Cup. He shares his experiences in the Land of the Rising Sun with us in part two of this series.

The Olympic Trials this weekend will be a quite interesting and exciting race but might not indicate who will do best in Beijing. The small fields in both events will most likely impact the race flow and the final results and there won’t be small fields at the Olympics.

Ironman announced earlier this week that the 2008 Ford Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii would feature an expanded expo called Kona Demo Days. Does that mean that the Kona expo will soon be for triathlon what the Seaotter Classic is for road and mountain biking?

Tim DeBoom announced this week that he’ll be participating in the 2008 Leadville 100 event. Although no stranger to long distance triathlons and marathon running, this will be DeBoom’s first foray into ultra distance running.

The winner of our design-our-logo (that thing on the upper left hand of every page) contest is Slowtwitch user Cupajoe. We promised him a new carbon bike for his work. We asked him to blog about the experience of obtaining that bike, and here’s Part I.

What will be remembered as one of the closest Ironman finishes ever, Jozsef Major grabbed his very first title with an amazing run at the 2008 Ironman Arizona. Erika Csomor who hails from the same town in Hungary took the women’s crown with an equally impressive running performance.

This coming weekend we will bring you a live report from the 2008 US Olympic triathlon trials in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. You will be able to find out right here which male and female US athlete will join Jarrod Shoemaker and Laura Bennett in Beijing.

Simon Whitfield showed that he is ready for another Olympic title with a very impressive win at the 2008 Ishigaki BG Triathlon World Cup. Emma Snowsill led the women’s race from start to finish and with it claimed her 8th Word Cup title

Stephen Bayliss showed tremendous patience and tenacity as he won the 2008 Ironman South Africa and with it, his very first Ironman title. Bella Comerford, not to be outdone by her fiance Stephen Bayliss, took the women’s race with a very strong run.

The 2008 Ironman Malaysia was Mathieu O’Halloran’s first experience at that distance and he was first out of the water and finished the race in fourth place. Relatively unknown until that day, he shared some of his thoughts with Slowtwitch.

In 2002 Leanda Cave surprised many folks when she won the ITU World Championships in Cancun, Mexico. Not content with ITU racing, Leanda started to race longer distance events a few years later and now really is a force to be reckoned with on all distances.

Do you want to install (and uninstall) your fork on your bike? If so, you need to get the crown race on and off. There are tools for sale that represent the incorrect way to tackle this job. Here are the correct tools, and how to use them.

Our series on Race Director aids continues with an installment on how to fill your race with participants.