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TRIATHLON: Springs athletes face last chance

   Hunter Kemper wants an Olympic berth in triathlon.   He wouldn’t mind a pile of cash. And a new car.   The Olympic Training Center resident can get all three Sunday by outlasting Colorado Springs rival Andy Potts and a strong international field at the Hy-Vee Triathlon World Cup in West Des Moines, Iowa.   Kemper, 32, and Potts, 31, headline the U.S. men’s contenders and Boulder’s Sarah Groff, 26, and Sarah Haskins Kortuem, 27, of Colorado Springs are the American women’s front-runners in the final domestic qualifier for the Beijing Games in August.   International men’s challengers include 2000 Olympic gold medalist Simon Whitfield of Canada and 2004 Olympic silver medalist Bevan Docherty of New Zealand. On the women’s side, three-time world champion Emma Snowsill of Australia and 2008 world champion Helen Tucker of Great Britain are favored.   The world’s highest-paying triathlon – an 0.9-mile swim, 26.6-mile bike and   – 6.2-mile run moved from Des Moines to West Des Moines because of recent flooding – carries a $700,000 purse, with $200,000 and a car for the men’s and women’s winners.   “I’m looking to make the Olympic team,” said Kemper, who placed 17th at the 2000 Sydney Games and ninth at the 2004 Athens Games. “I’m also looking to win $200,000. To make the Olympic team and be able to throw the party.”   Laura Bennett, 33, of Boulder, and Jarrod Shoemaker, 25, of Maynard, Mass., secured Olympic spots at the Beijing World Cup in September and Boulder’s Matt Reed, 32, and Julie Swail Ertel, 35, of Irvine, Calif., punched their tickets at the U.S. Olympic trials in April in Tuscaloosa, Ala.   Groff must be the top American finisher in West Des Moines to claim the last women’s spot. If she’s not, it goes to Kortuem, the U.S. runner-up at the Beijing World Cup and the Olympic trials.   Kemper takes the final men’s berth if he’s the top American finisher; if he’s the U.S. runner-up and Potts isn’t the U.S. winner; or if he’s ahead of Potts as long as Brian Fleischmann, 29, of Colorado Springs, or Doug Friman, 32, of Tucson, Ariz., isn’t first.   That scenario also applies for Potts, a 2004 Olympian who essentially needs to beat Kemper head to head. Kemper topped Potts by 22 seconds at the Beijing World Cup. Potts edged Kemper by four seconds at the Olympic trials.   Here’s another scenario: Fleischmann or Friman is the top American finisher and neither Kemper nor Potts is second. If that happens, Fleischmann or Friman makes the team.   “If I can get away on the bike and not have him in the group, that will be all the better for me,” Kemper said of Potts. “If not, it comes down to the run. I have my running legs, and I can do it.”

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