Steve Larsen passed.

[sn69]

Dan Empfield just posted over in Slowtwitch that Steve Larsen passed after a heart attack he suffered last night. He was the epitome of the well-rounded cyclist, competing successfully in road, cross, track, mountain biking and triathlon.

More importantly, he was a total gentleman.

Wow. Way too young. His presence will be missed.
Scott

[dana_e]

Really hard to believe, I knew him from when he was a teenager in Davis.

Biggest talent to come out of the Davis scene.

shocking

[David Kirk]

Hard to believe...... and sad.

He was a giant.

dave

[Blue Jays]

R.I.P.
Tragic news, he probably wasn't even 40 years of age. :(

[Sandy]

He was 39, had a wife and 5 children. He won major races as a road racer, triathlete, and mountain bike racer. He raced for the Motorola team for 3 years in the early 1990s. Very sad and tragic.


Sandy

[jhcakilmer]

A heart attack at 39......did he have some congenital heart defect?

Condolences to his family!!

[SadieKate]

His brother Mike just posted this to the local bendcycling yahoo group.

It is with deep sadness we share the news of Steve Larsen's sudden and untimely passing. Steve collapsed during a workout Tuesday evening and despite their immediate attention medical professionals were unable to resuscitate him.

To many of us Steve was an inspiration, a competitor and a mentor who touched and influenced our lives. Though his time here was brief, his accomplishments as a professional cyclist, professional triahtlete, and businessman were not. Steve was a multi time National Champion in Road Cycling, Mountain Biking, and Xterra off road triathlon and an Ironman Triathlon Champion as well. He started and ran a number of businesses including his current ventures at Steve Larsen Properties, a commercial real estate brokerage and WorldTri.com, an online retailer.

Though his athletic ability was extraordinary, his greatest treasure and passion was his wife and five children. The love he shared with them and from them was his greatest gift and accomplishment.

Steve Larsen March 13, 1970 - May 19, 2009.

[spiderman]

if you're one of those 1% or less in the population...
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Coronary artery anomalies (CAA) are difficult to diagnose on clinical grounds. According to the literature, the incidence of CAA is reported to be between 0.46–1.55% in the general population.1 The clinical presentations and functional importance of CAA vary widely. On the one extreme, they may be clinically silent, discovered by chance and considered only to be curiosities; on the other extreme, they may cause angina pectoris, syncope, arrhythmias, myocardial infarction, and even sudden cardiac death. Significant morbidity and mortality can result, even among young adults. The reason for the sudden fatal events is generally unclear but probably relates to the anatomical variants and proximal course of the coronary anomaly. In particular, anomalies that involve the proximal coronary artery segments coursing between the aorta and the pulmonary trunk have been reported to be potentially lethal.2
We describe, for the first time in the literature, a patient with an anomalous coronary artery with an aberrant course between the great vessels misdiagnosed as being an acute aortic dissection on the basis of the clinical presentation and computed tomography (CT).

[SadieKate]

And here you go from the Bend Bulletin

Elite athlete Steve Larsen dies
Last modified: May 20. 2009 9:48AM PST

Elite triathlete and former national mountain bike champion Steve Larsen died of a sudden heart attack while running at Cascade Middle School on Tuesday night.

Larsen, who was 39 and lived in Bend, was with a group of about 40 people who regularly run together when he collapsed. Other runners performed CPR on him and called 911. Paramedics arrived and transported Larsen to St. Charles Bend.

Deschutes County Medical Examiner Dr. Steve Cross said an autopsy was performed this morning and found no obvious signs of coronary heart disease. Larsen's heart will be sent to a laboratory in the mid-West where it will be analyzed for disease, Cross said.

Larsen enjoyed success as a professional athlete in multiple sports.

In the early 1990s, he raced on the Motorola road cycling team with Lance Armstrong.

He switched to mountain biking in 1994, winning the NORBA National Cross Country Mountain Bike Champion title in 1998 and 2000, and narrowly missing a chance to represent the United States at the Sydney Olympics.

He then turned to triathlon, scoring top-ten finishes in national and international competitions.

Larsen retired from professional racing in late 2003 and started working in real estate, first with Lowes Commercial Properties in Bend and then with his own company, Steve Larsen Properties.

He ran the Ironman World Championships triathlon in Hawaii in October and finished sixth in the Lowe’s XTERRA West Cup at Lake Las Vegas on May 2.

Larsen is survived by his wife, Carrie, and five children.

- Bulletin Staff Report

http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090520/NEWS0107/905209995&nav_category=

[dixiesdad]

The current Velonews says it was a viral issue