Natalie Coughlin attacking the backstroke.

With her fifth appearance in the FINA World Championship, Natalie Coughlin returned home with a Gold, Silver and Bronze.  Although she wasn’t fully satisfied with her performance, it was a great marker to focus in on what she needs to work on during training over the next year before the 2012 Olympics.

Slater Trout had a busy summer, finishing second in both the Hennessey’s and Catalina races.  During the SUP Magazine awards, he was more than happy to be awarded as the third best male paddler.

A few months after being featured on the cover of Triathlete Magazine, Laura Bennett won the 2011 Buffalo ITU Pan American Cup, making this her third national title.  Greg Bennett finished third in the Life Time Minneapolis Triathlon on July 9th and 11th in the Los Angeles Triathlon on September 26th.

Craig Alexander won the Marine Corp World Championship in Las Vegas on September 11th.  In Kona, Alexander again didn’t disappoint, setting a new course record and becoming one of four men to win the race three times or more.  On top of all that, he became the first man to win both the Ironman and Ironman 70.3 world championship in the same year!

Laura and Greg Bennett, our favorite triathlete couple!

Back from a nasty respiratory illness, Craig Alexander overcame a 9 minute gap between him and race leader Maik Twelsiek during the triathlon’s 26.2 mile marathon route to become the Ford Ironman Coeur d’Alene champion. What a comeback! Craig finished the race with a time of 8 hours, 19 minutes, and 48 seconds setting a new course record. Well done Crowie!

Laura Bennett remains in 4^th place overall in the ITU World Championship Series rankings. Her 6^th place finish at the ITU Kitzuhel Triathlon was her 7^th consecutive top 10 finish during the World Championship Series. Her Husband and fellow H2O Audio ambassador, Greg Bennett placed 3^rd in last weekend’s Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon.

Greg and Laura are also featured in this summer’s edition of USA Triathlon Magazine talking about their path towards the 2012 Olympics and gracing the cover we might add!

Also to note, Natalie Coughlin made her 16^th appearance in the past 17 years at the annual Santa Clara International Grand Prix swim meet. She wrote about the meet and what it means to her on her USA swimming blog.

Natalie Coughlin will be in the competition pool again soon.

We had such high hopes of a Crowie three-peat at Kona Ironman this past weekend, but fourth is not so bad either.  It was an upset in both the men’s and women’s race as Chris McCormack took first for the guys and first time Ironman Champion Mirinda Carfrae was the top Ironwoman.

In Olympic distance Tri, our own Greg and Laura Bennett both finished out their season with a solid 9th place finish at the Lifetime Fitness Series event in Dallas on Sunday.

Also, H2O Audio Ambassador Swimmer Natalie Coughlin is going to be back in the competition pool again soon.  According to her Twitter account she just hopped on a plane this morning bound for Singapore to compete in the FINA World Cup on the 16th and 17th of this month.

Crowie crossing the Ironman finish line in 2009...will he be first again this year?

Ultra-endurance athletes everywhere are gearing up for the pinnacle of the endurance racing season, Kona Ironman, taking place this weekend in Hawaii.  Craig Alexander is going for World Championship Title number 3…can he do it!?

Also, in other extreme sports, the window for the Billabong XXL Big Wave Awards has opened.  While most submissions come from winter storm swell, the contest has already seen an influx of entries from massive Southern Hemisphere swells.

Craig Alexander crosses the finish line at Racine with his daughter.

This past weekend was big for H2O Audio Triathletes!

Craig Alexander added another first place finish to his list of accomplishments at the Racine Tri in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Laura Bennett finished in the top 10 at the ITU event in Hamburg, Germany.  The top of the pack was separated by mere seconds, with Laura finishing 7th.  And sadly, Greg Bennett is still not back to fully healthy, mentioning on Twitter that he spent time in a New York City hospital this weekend.   We’re sending healing thoughts your way Greg!