With a teary, heartfelt “Sorry, everybody,” hometown superstar and World No. 1 female triathlete Paula Findlay withdrew from the ITU Edmonton Triathlon World Cup race Sunday owing to a painful muscle tear in her right hip.
“It’s just a small strain in my hip,” a distraught Findlay told reporters in an impromptu scrum at the start-finish line she was heavily favoured to cross in first place had she competed. “I’ve been really trying to manage it all week and do everything I could to be ready, but unfortunately at this point it’s just pretty sore.”
The 22-year-old Findlay was the promotional face of the Edmonton event, and with good reason. She has dominated female triathlon since late last season, winning five of the last six World Championship Series races, including consecutive WCS events in Sydney, Madrid and Kitzbühel to start this season.
She would have been competing in front of her hometown fans for the first time as a triathlon superstar, but the race was actually unimportant in the qualifying process for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
“I was really looking forward to it,” Findlay said of the Edmonton race. “I hate disappointing people and I hate disappointing myself.
“I’m over reacting a little bit, but I was really excited to race at home. All my family and friends are here to watch me and unfortunately, I won’t be able to race.”
Findlay first noticed the small injury during a run at her training base in Victoria a week ago Thursday, but didn’t think much of it at the time.
“It’s just a small strain on my right hip, rectus femoris, to be specific,” Findlay said, managing a wan laugh.
It flared up this week, however. On Thursday night, Findlay had an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan at University Hospital, which showed no skeletal damage, such as a stress fracture. Findlay said it did show a small muscle tear.
On Friday, the team chiropractor treated her and assessed her and, again, no major damage was found. On Saturday, Findlay went to the Glen Sather Clinic for an ultrasound test, which also was encouraging.
But on Sunday morning, Findlay found it too painful to run. She was limping and in obvious pain and became distraught, realizing she would not be able to compete.
“I’ve been trying to stay positive and (convince myself) that it’s not that bad,” Findlay said. “But, really this morning, it was bad.”
Findlay consulted with her parents, Max and Sheila, her coach, Patrick Kelly, as well as medical staff, but she’s a fierce competitor who loves to race, above all.
“It’s my call, I’m sorry, it’s my call,” an emotional Findlay said. “I could do the swim and the bike, but I’m a competitive person and it would be really difficult for me to pull out in the middle of the race, so this is probably the easier decision, even though it’s not an easy decision.”
Findlay felt the weight of expectation of her home city to perform, not merely be the ambassador for the event, which had a nine-year run from 1999 to 2007 before a four-year hiatus.
Sheila O’Kelly, the executive-director of the Edmonton race, comforted a tearful Findlay after she decided not to race.
“I’m very sad for Paula,” O’Kelly said. “It’s her health that’s important.
“We would not want to make her feel bad. We want to make her feel good that she’s making the right decision, that London is the important race.
“For her to race on an injury because she didn’t want to disappoint Edmonton would not be the right thing to do for Edmonton, for herself, or for Canada.”
The London WCS event takes place on the same Hyde Park course that will be used in 2012, the swim taking place in the famous Serpentine in that city-centre park.
Findlay is the defending champion there. It is the first of a number of races Triathlon Canada has designated as automatic qualifiers for the 2012 Olympics. A top eight result by Findlay or any other Canadian earns them a berth on the 2012 Olympic team.
The same holds true for the WCS Grand Final in Beijing in September.
“It’s good news, bad news,” said Alan Trivett, executive-director of Triathlon Canada. “It shows she has the maturity and the understanding of her own body to pull the plug in what to her feels like the most important race of the year.
“In the grand scheme of things, this isn’t the most important race of the year for her. But given it’s her hometown and all the buildup and leadup to it, you can understand why she would feel that way.
“It was her call to make, we did not interfere with that. We just provided her with the most support we could and we let her make the decision.”
Emotional as she was in conveying her disappointing news on Sunday, Findlay and her entourage had this disappointment in perspective.
“I just have to look at the big picture,” Findlay said. “August 8 is an Olympic qualifier and that’s what’s most important to me.
“I have a big career ahead of me and in the grand scheme of things, this isn’t a huge race for me. It’s really tough and emotionally it’s an important race, but in the big picture it’s a small step.”
Paula’s father, Max Findlay, an Edmonton neurosurgeon, arranged for the MRI on Thursday night. His daughter had gone back and forth on the decision over a period of three days, feeling good, then bad, but fervently wanting to race the whole time. “I honestly thought she was going to race today,” said Max Findlay. “She was smiling this morning and happy, but when she started moving around and got down here, it hurt.
“It doesn’t matter what the pictures show. If it hurts, she can’t run on it, and she couldn’t race. It’s part of racing, part of life. Things don’t always work out.
“But I think Edmonton is a great city and the fans will understand. No one wanted to race more than Paula herself. She’ll get over it, she’s tough.”
Findlay said she expects to leave for a training camp in the French ski resort of Les Angles in the Pyrenees, next week on as scheduled. From there, she would go to London for the Aug. 8 race.
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