USA Triathlon Announces the 2023 Coaches and Race Director of the Year

With over 300 sanctioned multisport events to his name in 50 years, Sommer has mentored countless race directors and continues to adapt and innovate in the ever-evolving world of triathlon. His contributions as a race director are legendary. He launched his first triathlon in 1984, which had 384 participants. That same year, he founded the Central Florida Triathletes Tri Club which has since evolved into CFT-Sommer Sports. In 1985, he directed the first Florida Challenge Intimidator Triathlon and the inaugural TriKidz National Championship. In 1991, Sommer created the Great Floridian Utra-Distance Triathlon, the longest-running independent full-distance triathlon in the world. Not only a local race director, Sommer has served as the race director for major events including the Ironkids National Championships and the ITU World Championship Triathlon. 

A U.S. Navy veteran and Naval Academy graduate, Sortino believes in the philosophy “there are no secrets to training” and that coaching is about teaching and collaboration. He emphasizes this collaboration in his coaching, hosting monthly video calls for coaches to share insights and experiences to learn from each other. Sortino has been a National Team Coach for USA Paratriathlon and has coached Team USA at the Rio, Tokyo and Paris Paralympic Games and is the two-time USA Triathlon Paralympic Coach of the Year. 

Also the 2020 Coach Educator of the Year, O’Brien has been a USA Triathlon Certified Coach since 1998, and has coached many elite athletes, including paratriathlon world champion, Kelly Elmlinger. For 10 years, O'Brien was instrumental in the early development of the USA Triathlon youth and junior Olympic development pipeline. After officially retiring the junior elite team in 2018, she shifted focus to USA Triathlon’s Paratriathlon program. O'Brien has recently found passion with bio-mechanic and orthopedic challenges. 

Edminister fell in love with Multisport while chasing his wife, Erin (Dolan) Edminister around the country with Team USA. In 2016, he decided to dive head-first into the sport himself and started not only competing but also volunteering at youth camps in northwest Arkansas. This motivated him to earn his USA Triathlon Level I Certification that he still holds today. He currently volunteers coaching more than 100 youth athletes in year-round training and is the head volunteer at two youth races hosted by TeamE Multi Sport. 

A former U.S. Elite Triathlon National Team member, Edminister is a 16-time swimming All-American, professional triathlete and a member of the USA Triathlon Women’s Committee. She recently welcomed her first daughter and has transitioned her focus from racing to coaching. Edminister has been instrumental in helping youth and junior triathletes, founding TeamE Multi Sport in 2016, the largest Triathlon Club in Northwest Arkansas. In the past 10 years, she has coached over 26 youth triathlon camps, started the first youth draft legal development squad in Northwest Arkansas and has been a leader in youth multisport throughout the country. 

Carabet is the owner of Elevate Multisport Coaching and Elevate Women 4 Tri. She is a USA Triathlon Level I and Paratriathlon Certified Coach — the only full-time certified Paratriathlon coach in Los Angeles. She is also Head of Coordination for Athletes with Disabilities at the Los Angeles Marathon, the Los Angeles-based para-multisport coach for Challenged Athletes Foundation, one of the Para Coaches for Dare2Tri camps in Chicago, and helps coach at paratri and Talent ID Camps for USA Triathlon. 

Sousa is the coach behind one of the longest- standing and most successful international squads on the World Triathlon circuit. Seven of his athletes qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and nine qualified for Paris 2024. Among these, Sousa has coached five U.S. athletes to the Olympic Games, notably Taylor Spivey and Seth Rider, who were members of the silver-medal winning team in the Triathlon Mixed Relay at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.