Lauren Campbell

Lauren Groves (born September 2, 1981) is a triathlete from Canada, who won the bronze medal at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Groves started out her sporting career while she was swimming competitively in a local club at the age of six, and also ran cross-country, and track and field. By the age of 19, she decided to focus on triathlon upon her admission at the Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and began training at the Queen's University Triathlon Club. After completing her psychology degree, major in forensics, at the Queen's University, Groves moved to Victoria, British Columbia, where she trained full-time through Pacific Sport at the National Triathlon Training Centre. Groves also admitted that she had never heard of triathlon, until she watched Simon Whitfield competing and winning the gold medal in the men's event at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

Triathlon career

Groves made her sporting debut at the 2001 ITU Triathlon World Championship in Edmonton, Alberta, under the junior category, where she finished only in thirty-first place. She later and further improved on her athletic performance and thirty-hour weekly training to set her fourth-place finish at the 2003 ITU Triathlon World Under-23 Championships in Queenstown, New Zealand. After achieving her first best result, Groves was ranked as one of Canada's top triathletes, and continued to build her success in triathlon by winning the 2006 ITU Triathlon Pan American Cup in Roatan, Honduras, and her first national championship in Brampton, Ontario. Groves reached higher into the international level, when she finished fourth, yet missed out the podium at the 2006 ITU Triathlon World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland. Her fourth-place finish at the world championships was the best result by a Canadian female triathlete since Carol Montgomery did further in 2000. She was also ranked third in a career-high World Cup competition after placing eight in Edmonton.

Groves qualified for the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and won the bronze medal in the women's triathlon with a time of 1:59:50, just behind the U.S. triathletes Julie Ertel and Sarah Haskins, who both claimed the gold and silver, respectively. Following her success at the Pan American Games, Groves emerged as a medal contender in the international stage, particularly with the World Cup and the Olympics. She won silver at the 2008 PATCO Pan American Championships in Mazatlan, Mexico, and finished thirteenth at the ITU Triathlon World Cups in Tongyeong, South Korea and Richards Bay, South Africa.

Groves was selected to the national team, along with Carolyn Murray and Kathy Tremblay, for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and awarded a qualifying place in the women's triathlon. After finishing second at the Pan American Championships and posting a pair of thirteenth-place finishes on the World Cup circuit, she was in good physical form to compete at the Olympics, yet overcame with knee problems that had plagued her most of the year. In the women's event, Groves started out as a possibility of a top ten finish, and maintained her pace in the swimming leg. Finishing only in thirty-first place at both the swimming and first transition phase, Groves had moved her way into a small group of competitors chasing the breakaways of the 40-km cycling race, until one of them went down in front of her, and crashed her bike. Unfortunately, she was unable to complete the race, finding herself in an ambulance en route to the hospital, where the medical staff confirmed that she had a fractured radial head in her left elbow. With Groves being injured, her teammates, Murray and Tremblay, finished the event in twenty-ninth and thirty-first place, respectively.

After missing out the 2008 season with an elbow and knee injury, Groves made a comeback in the local and international triathlon scene for the following year. She captured her first World Cup podium finish, by winning the bronze medal at the 2009 Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon Elite Cup in Des Moines, Iowa. Groves also led a group of four Canadians, along with Whitfield, Tremblay, and Brent McMahon, to win the bronze for the mixed relay at the inaugural Team World Championship, and received $10,000 each for crossing the finish line with a time of 1:21:31. In the same year, Groves finally achieved her highest placement, by winning gold medals each at the ITU Triathlon Pan American Premium Cup, and at the national championships in Kelowna, sharing the same triumphs with Whitfield in the men's event.

After winning her first title, Groves took a year off from triathlon, following her recovery from a serious physical injury at the world championships, and a prior commitment towards her personal life. In 2011, she returned to the competition and won the bronze medal at both the ITU Sprint Triathlon Oceania Cup, and OTU Sprint Triathlon Oceania Championships in Devonport, Tasmania.In 2012 she earned a ninth-place finish at the ITU Triathlon World Cup in Mooloolaba, Australia, recapturing her success in the international scene, by winning the gold medal at the 2012 ITU Sprint Triathlon Pan American Cup in Bridgetown, Barbados, and claiming her first-ever career World Cup title in Edmonton.

Personal life

Upon retirement from triathlon in 2013, Groves attended Palmer College of Chiropractic's West Campus in San Jose, California, graduating as a Doctor of Chiropractic in 2017. Groves resides in San Jose with her husband, Casey, and their rescue greyhound, Twitter. They are expecting their first child in early 2018.

Between 2002 and 2012, Groves took part in 77 triathlon competitions, and had achieved thirty-six top-ten finishes, including eleven medals. Unless indicated otherwise, the events are triathlons (Olympic Distance) and belong to the Elite category. Championships with medals mentioned below are bolded.

Date	Competition	Place	Rank
July 22, 2001	ITU Triathlon World Junior Championships	Edmonton	31
July 14, 2002	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Edmonton	23
November 9, 2002	ITU Triathlon World Under-23 Championships	Cancun	8
June 7, 2003	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Tongyeong	DNF
July 20, 2003	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Corner Brook	17
July 27, 2003	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Salford	10
August 3, 2003	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Tiszaújváros	23
October 13, 2003	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Makuhari	17
November 2, 2003	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Cancun	6
November 9, 2003	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Rio de Janeiro	16
December 6, 2003	ITU Triathlon World Championships	Queenstown	4
April 11, 2004	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Ishigaki	DNF
May 22, 2004	ITU Triathlon Pan American Cup	Tempe	6
June 12, 2004	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Tongyeong	10
July 18, 2004	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Corner Brook	DNF
April 16, 2005	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Honolulu	12
April 24, 2005	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Mazatlan	11
July 17, 2005	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Corner Brook	6
September 10, 2005	ITU Triathlon World Championships	Gamagori	41
September 17, 2005	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Beijing	25
November 13, 2005	ITU Triathlon World Cup	New Plymouth	15
February 19, 2006	ITU Triathlon Oceania Cup	Hobart	8
March 25, 2006	ITU Triathlon Pan American Cup	Roatan Bay
April 16, 2006	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Ishigaki	5
May 7, 2006	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Mazatlan	6
June 4, 2006	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Madrid	DNF
June 11, 2006	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Richards Bay	4
June 25, 2006	ITU Triathlon Pan American Cup	Long Beach
July 2, 2006	ITU Triathlon Pan American Cup	Brampton
July 9, 2006	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Edmonton	7
July 23, 2006	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Corner Brook	6
September 2, 2006	ITU Triathlon World Championships	Lausanne	4
September 9, 2006	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Hamburg	13
November 5, 2006	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Cancun	19
November 12, 2006	ITU Triathlon World Cup	New Plymouth	DNF
March 25, 2007	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Mooloolaba	13
April 15, 2007	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Ishigaki	DNF
June 10, 2007	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Vancouver	8
June 17, 2007	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Des Moines	DNF
June 24, 2007	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Edmonton	8
July 15, 2007	Pan American Games	Rio de Janeiro
July 22, 2007	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Kitzbühel	22
July 29, 2007	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Salford	9
August 30, 2007	ITU Triathlon World Championships	Hamburg	14
September 15, 2007	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Beijing	19
April 4, 2008	PATCO Triathlon Pan American Championships	Mazatlan
April 26, 2008	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Tongyeong	13
May 4, 2008	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Richards Bay	13
June 5, 2008	ITU Triathlon World Championships	Vancouver	33
June 22, 2008	Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon World Cup	Des Moines	DNF
August 18, 2008	Olympic Games	Beijing	DNF
April 26, 2009	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Ishigaki	8
May 2, 2009	Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series	Tongyeong	10
June 21, 2009	Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series	Washington, D.C.	10
June 27, 2009	Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon World Cup	Des Moines
June 28, 2009	Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon Team World Championships	Des Moines
July 11, 2009	Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series	Kitzbühel	10
July 25, 2009	Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series	Hamburg	4
August 23, 2009	ITU Triathlon Pan American Cup	Kelowna
September 9, 2009	Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Grand Final	Gold Coast	19
August 21, 2010	ITU Team Triathlon World Championships	Lausanne	15
January 15, 2011	ITU Sprint Triathlon Oceania Cup	Devonport
March 26, 2011	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Mooloolaba	9
April 9, 2011	Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series	Sydney	10
June 18, 2011	Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series	Kitzbühel	DNF
January 13, 2012	PATCO Triathlon Pan American Championships	La Paz	11
February 12, 2012	ITU Sprint Triathlon Pan American Cup	Devonport
March 3, 2012	ITU Sprint Triathlon Pan American Cup	Clermont	8
March 24, 2012	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Mooloolaba	12
April 14, 2012	Dextro Energy World Triathlon	Sydney	24
May 10, 2012	ITU World Triathlon	San Diego	25
May 26, 2012	ITU World Triathlon	Madrid	DNF
July 6, 2012	ITU Triathlon World Cup	Edmonton
August 25, 2012	ITU World Triathlon	Stockholm	26
August 25, 2012	ITU World Team Triathlon	Stockholm	16
October 20, 2012	ITU Barfoot & Thompson World Triathlon Grand Final	Auckland	21