Sarah Reinertsen

Born with femoral focal deficiency, Sarah Reinertsen began her life with bigger challenges than most people face in a life time. At age 7, her affected leg was amputated above the knee and by the age of 11 she was inspired to begin running despite her disability. Competing for the US Disabled Track Team, Reinertsen came out of the starting blocks strong, setting a world record in her first 100 meter event at the age of 13. For 7 years she competed for the US Disabled Track Team, including a trip to the 1992 Paralympics where she was pitted against competitors with arm amputations instead of participants with similar disabilities. Switching her focus to distance running, Reinertsen has completed many marathons across the Globe, including breaking the world record for an above-knee amputee several times. In 2005 she competed the Ironman World Championships and is a 3x ITU Paratriathlon gold medalist (2003, 2007, 2009). While she thrived in the distance running throughout her career, Reinertsen has refocused her training with the goal of competing in the 2016 Paralympics in the newly created sprint distance triathlon.