Katya Meyers' life is a hectic balancing act - from triathlete, to magazine cover girl, to aspiring doctor

By Don Norcross

Katya Meyers enters the Carmel Valley coffee shop via the back door. Shy by nature, the model/pro triathlete/aspiring doctor is not one for conspicuous entrances.

While Katya Meyer's modeling career has taken off, her triathlon vocation is a bit more modest.

She's  dressed casually, in jeans and a blue, green and white spaghetti-strap top. Her hair's damp for the 8:30 a.m. appointment, Meyers having already spun for 70 minutes on her indoor trainer, followed by a 20-minute run. Having felt fatigued for months, this is Meyers' idea of tapering.

As a triathlete, Meyers' professional results have been modest: a fourth last year at Ironman France, 11th earlier this season at Ironman Australia representing the highlights.

Certainly, the woman can run and plays hurt. Meyers won the La Jolla Half Marathon last year despite fracturing her shoulder 10 days earlier in a bike crash. She ran the race with her left arm immobilized, her left hand clinging to her sports bra.

As for Meyers' triathlon potential, Triathlete magazine publisher John Duke says, “She could become a lot better if she weren't so balanced. But she's made a lot more money being a model (than a triathlete) and ultimately will earn a lot more money as a doctor. She's got a balanced portfolio.”

Triathlon, by nature, is a juggling act. Meyers' lifestyle – training, 12-hour photo shoots, cramming for the Medical College Admission Test, which she took in June – fits accordingly.

MEYERS' FAVES FILE TiVos: “The Office” and “Grey's Anatomy.” Favorite movie: “Forrest Gump.” “The writing was clever and he was so unassuming.” Favorite book: “The Kite Runner.” “It was really gripping and says a lot about human nature.” Favorite eatery: Golden Spoon Frozen Yogurt. Little-known fact: Wrote college essay about being named Miss Tobacco Queen in Russellville, Ky.

Asked if she likes her present space in life, Meyers, who turns 27 tomorrow, says, “I do. I don't think this is a final destination. ... My friends say, 'You have so many plates spinning.' But I like having interests, focusing on more than one area at once.”

From a distance, with her Eastern European look and first name, Meyers casts an exotic image. (Meyers' mother danced ballet through med school and named Katya after a fellow dancer.) Yet Katya was raised in suburban Kentucky and Illinois. Her father raises horses and cows and owns farmland in three states.

Meyers' mother is a practicing pediatrician, her father a retired orthopedic surgeon. Katya grew up making hospital rounds and watching her father perform surgery.

Of her desire to follow her parents' path and become a doctor, Meyers says, “I like the idea of having a tangible skill you can use to help people.”

Meyers says she was pleased with her MCAT scores but likely will not begin medical school until 2009, at the earliest. She's curious to see just how far her triathlon career will go.

“I think I've had modest results,” Meyers says. “I want to keep trying to put it together, racing as long as it's a viable option.”

Growing up, Meyers' primary sport was gymnastics until knee surgery at 17 ended any thoughts of emulating Nadia Comaneci. She rowed at Stanford and sampled triathlon her junior year, finishing second in her first race, until being disqualified for forgetting her helmet on the bike.

“I loved it from the start,” Meyers says. “Just the rawness of it.”

Less than a year after graduating from college she won her age group at the Ford Ironman Coeur d'Alene in Idaho.

As for modeling, Meyers was assisted by Duke, one of triathlon's most influential figures.

“I thought she had a very unique look,” says Duke, who recommended Meyers to a local photographer.

Meyers' first work appeared on the cover of Competitor Magazine, an athletic shot of Meyers doing what she does best, running. She has since appeared in numerous fitness magazines. In March, Newsweek ran a feature headlined “Health for Life.” The 23-page spread included a nearly full-page choreographed shot of Meyers swimming.

“She obviously is a very cute girl,” Duke says. “But you never know if a girl can model until they model. Some of the hottest women I've seen looked wooden in front of the camera. She's the other way. She's a pretty girl but even prettier in front of the camera.”

Says photographer John Segesta, who has shot Meyers numerous times: “A model is someone who reacts to the camera. She does that for sure. She's a great model.”

Admittedly shy, Meyers says she disengages when it comes to photo shoots.

“A lot of pictures turn out better when you're just natural, not forcing things,” Meyers says. “I pretend the camera's not there.”

Fifteen-time Ironman-distance champ Heather Fuhr figures some triathletes are jealous of the attention Meyers receives, given her modest professional success. She thinks the athletes are off base.

“There may be people citing the Anna Kournikova syndrome,” says Fuhr, mentioning the marketable tennis star who never won a singles title on the WTA tour. “But that's part of being a pro athlete, being the whole package. You go with what you got. She's a beautiful girl, she might as well use that.”

Modeling has whisked Meyers to Thailand, Hawaii and Mexico. Triathlon has jetted her to Australia and France. She likes the lifestyle and the healthy image she projects. (Wanting to fight childhood obesity, Meyers often speaks to elementary school students.)

If some are jealous of Meyers' profile, at least she's not a poser. She models athleticism and walks the walk.

More than once at photo shoots Meyers pointed out bruises and scrapes along her forearms and shins, asking photographers if they wanted to apply makeup.

“That's who you are,” photographers often reply. “That's cool.” 

 Bike Photo courtesy of www.Opix.net