On Her Third Try, Triathlete Kirsten Kasper Made Her First Olympic Team

On June 7, 2024, Kirsten Kasper received a Zoom call from USA Triathlon’s high performance general manager Scott Schnitzspahn. The 32-year-old triathlete was in her car, in her bathing suit, driving home from a pool workout in Boulder, Colorado. She knew Schnitzspahn would call that day and wanted to get home before he called. When he texted that he was about to call, she pulled over into a church parking lot.

“I guess you know why I’m calling,” he said. “We had two women’s spots that we could allocate by discretion for the [2024] Olympic team.”

Her eyebrows arched, Kasper looked pale and was shaking with nerves. She had been here before, hoping to make the 2016 and 2020 U.S. Olympic Teams but not getting the news she wanted.

Schnitzspahn continued: “We were able to come to a unanimous decision, actually, … [pause] … and I’m honored to let you know that you are one of them. You are going to Paris this July as part of Team USA.”

Kasper gasped and put her hand to her mouth.

“Thank you! Thank you so much,” she replied as tears streamed down her face. “It took three tries, but I did it. … I’ve been dreaming of this my whole life.”

After 10 years in a sport that requires full-time training, Kasper — currently ranked 11^th in World Triathlon rankings — is among the favorites to win a medal at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. And in all likelihood, she could also be a member of the U.S. mixed relay team in Paris.

So how did the former NCAA runner get into the sport? And what has kept her going through three Olympic cycles?

Born in Canada, Kasper moved to North Andover, Massachusetts, with her family when she was a teenager. From an athletic family (uncle Steve Kasper played hockey in the NHL, including for the Boston Bruins and LA Kings, and then became a coach), Kasper was state champion in both swimming and running in high school.

In college, Kasper turned her attention to running, both cross-country and track, because it was a newer sport for her (she started swimming at age 5). As a freshman, she earned points for Georgetown University at the NCAA championships. She graduated in 2013 with an undergrad degree in marketing and management, then stayed another year to earn a master’s in sports industry management.

Kasper was a good runner, but not great by Olympic standards. With her collegiate career winding down, her long-held Olympic dream was fading. Then Barb Lindquist approached her. An Olympic triathlete (2004 Games), Lindquist was instrumental in starting USA Triathlon’s Collegiate Recruitment Program. She suggested to Kasper that she give triathlon a try; it might be a path to the Olympic Games.

“That is honestly why I got started in triathlon,” confessed Kasper, who commended USA Triathlon for the financial, logistical, coaching, and equipment support that the organization provided. “Coming out of college, I would never have been able to afford all that and know where to start.”

The Collegiate Recruitment Program has been an instrumental pipeline to the Olympic Games, helping athletes like 2016 gold medalist Gwen Jorgensen, 2020 silver and bronze medalist Katie Zaferes, and 2020 Olympian Summer Rappaport get their start in triathlon.

Kasper was immediately competitive. She started triathlon in June 2014 and less than three months later, finished fourth in the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final U23 race. At the end of the season, she received USA Triathlon’s Rookie of the Year award.

With less than two years until the Olympic Games Rio 2016, Kasper knew qualifying would be tight. But she scored a handful of top 10 finishes in ITU World Triathlon races and podiums in world cups and was named as an alternate to the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team.

“To get that close, it was motivation that I could do it for Tokyo,” said Kasper.

Her results continued to improve. In July 2016, she was a key member of the 2016 mixed relay team that won the world championship title and has been on other medal-winning mixed relay squads (silver in 2017, bronze in 2018). In 2017, she earned her first World Triathlon Series (WTS) podium and scored several top-five finishes, including fourth at the Grand Final. The following year, she was so consistent that she ended the season ranked fourth in the WTS.

“I kind of had more of the mindset like, ‘I don't know what I'm going to do if I don't qualify,’” said Kasper. “I had that pressure on myself.”

Then in early 2019, Kasper tore an adductor muscle in her groin. Her medical team assured her that she would be back racing soon. But the injury was more serious than they had thought (initially, they diagnosed it as a strain), and Kasper’s return to competition kept getting postponed. When she was able to train, she had to adapt to the pain.

In mid-August 2019, Kasper toed the line for the Tokyo test event. A top-eight finish would earn her a nomination to the 2020 Olympic team. But in the bike leg, she crashed, and it aggravated her hip (also giving her 15 stitches). In the following months, she had to back off intense training and find new ways to rehab the muscles in her hip.

Crashing on a bike can undermine confidence, too. Kasper found herself timid on the bike, concerned she might get knocked down again.

But “I never gave up,” she said.

The delay caused by the Covid-19 pandemic gave Kasper an extra year to recover and qualify for the Games. But at the World Triathlon Championship Series race in Yokohama in May 2021, she finished 14^th and was the fourth American across the line. When she received the call from USA Triathlon about Games qualification, the news was not good.

Again, she would be an Olympic team alternate.

Despite the setbacks, Kasper kept her head in the game. She has worked with a sports psychologist since she was in high school and credits mental health support as key to keeping her in triathlon for a decade.

“It was the biggest thing in that Tokyo cycle,” she confessed. “When I was suffering from depression and injury, I was able to rely on others to help me, and I was able to acknowledge that maybe I’m not okay, and that’s okay.”

“Now I feel like I’ve got quite the repertoire, like a book full of tactics to help me manage the mental game,” she added.

Keeping her motivated, Kasper was also convinced that she had yet to reach her potential in triathlon.

“I just knew I wasn’t done competing,” she said. “So that motivated me to try for this Paris team.”

Married in May 2022 to Canadian triathlete and 2020 Olympian Matthew Sharpe, Kasper “just kept showing up” in training and at races (the hardest part, she confessed), and she believed in herself. All the challenges she had faced since 2019 also helped change her mindset. Rather than put pressure on herself, she approached the Olympic cycle with a sense of opportunity and excitement — and gratitude.

“Standing on the start line in Paris [at least year’s test event], I just remember looking up at the Eiffel Tower and smiling,” she said. “It’s my way of calming myself on the start line.”

Kasper finished 14^th in that race but knew she had one more opportunity to qualify objectively for the 2024 Olympic Games — with a podium finish at the World Triathlon Series Championship Yokohama race in May 2024. She crossed the line in fifth there, and her fate was left up to coaches’ discretion.

“My goal was just to embrace it and see what happened,” she said.

After getting the official nod on June 7, Kasper’s main emotion was gratitude.

“Thank you for not giving up on me and supporting me and encouraging me to chase this dream,” she said to her family, friends, and supporters. “At times, it seemed quite far away. So I’ll be lining up in Paris for all of us, and I’m honored to be representing the U.S., and I’m going to try my best to bring home a medal.”